A
‘ BRIBF REVIBW
oF THE
FOLITICAL STATE OF LOWER CANADA,
‘ SINCE THE
Le CONQUEST OF THE COLONY,
| TO THE PRESENT DAY.
a TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
MEMOIRS OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS
a COLONIAL GOVERNMENT
of OF LOWER CANADA,
‘
SIR GORDON DRUMMOND,
AND
SIR JOHN COAPE SHERBROOKE,
Bs
a
BY ROBERT CHRISTI
ry
" NEW-YORK:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY W: A. MERCEIN,
Vo. 93 Gold-Street.
——
1818.
Southern District of New- York, ss.
BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-eighth day of November, in
the forty-third ~~ of the Independence of the United Siates of America, William
A. Mercein, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a Book, the
right whereof he claimsas Proprietor, in the words following, to wit:
‘¢ A Brief Review of the Political State of Lower Canada, since the Conquest of
the Colony to the Present Day. To which are added, Memoirs of the Administra-
tions of the Colonial Government of Lower Canada, by Sir Gordon Drummond, and
Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. By Robert Christie.”
In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled “An Act for
the encouragement of Learning, Vy securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and
Books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein men-
tioned.” And also to an Act, entitled “An Act, supplementary to an Act, enti-
tled an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps,
Charts, and Books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times
therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, en-
graving, and etching historical and other prints.”
JAMES DILL,
Clerk of the Southern District of New-York.
8 ee a ee
SERS aS eT it
York, ss.
Jovember, in
ea, William
a Book, the
Conquest of
Administra-
mmond, and
* An Act for
harts, and
herein men-
n Act, enti-
es of Maps,
ng the times
signing, en-
ew-York,
Ba EE OO ne s
EE SAS pa
wea
wine
ia
—f—
Page 17 line 22 for removes, read removed.
21 , 2 for Laws, read Law.
30 11 for trucking, read truckJing.
34 27 for advantage, read advantages.
Al 2 for Administrations, read Administration.
A6 12 for Chief Justice, read, Chief Justices.
50 3 for acquainted, read unacquainted.
53 4 tor reserved, read preserved.
56 17 for Sir, read Mr.
59 6 for Punet, read Parst.
NOTICE.
Tue present publication, intended as a sequel to
a small volume, which, some months since, was re-
printed at New-York from a Quebec edition, un-
der the title of “ Military and Naval Operations in
the Canadas during the late War, &c.” may be
interesting to the general reader, by the short re-
view it contains of the political progress of Lower
Canada, from the period of the conquest to the
present day. Among the motives which have in-
duced the author to publish this short but imper-
fect, though he trusts impartial sketch, he acknow-
ledges, that to remove the erroneous impressions
which have prevailed abroad, with respect to Lower
Canada, and which there is room to suspect, have
sometimes been produced by wilful misrepresen-
tation, has been his principal object. A sense of
duty to the government of which he is a subject,
and to the community of which he is a member,
have equally prompted his endeavours to explain,
as concisely as the subject would admit, those
internal difficulties which strangers have mistaken
A
for evidences of a seditious spirit. To the people
of both nations it must be gratifying to ascertain,
as nearly as possible, the political state of a colo-
ny, interesting to one as a neighbour, to the other
as a possession of much importance. The former
will find ample matter to account for the disap-
pointment of those sanguine expectations of easy
conquest, raised at the commencement of the late
war with Great Britain; and in the fallacy of the
past, will know what reliance to place in future
appearances. That the latter may derive some
advantage from a succinct statement of those oc-
currences, which at certain periods may unneces-
sarily have excited distrust against a peaceful, pa-
tient, and loyal people, is the first wish, and will
be the best secompense of the author.
Quebec, 31st October, 1818.
Ns:
A
®
4
é
a.
people
ertain,
a colo-
e other
former
disap-
of easy
the late
r of the
a future
re some
hose oc-
nneces-
eful, pa-
and will
1g ihn lied a ape os a eg ea Coes
kA a eg ae STE SE:
{
4
ut
BRIG? REVIEW
OF
THE POLITICAL STATE OF CANADA SINCE THE CONQUEST OF
THAT COLONY TO THE PRESENT DAY. ‘
Previous to the establishment of the present con-
stitution of the Canadas, the government of the
province of Quebec was vested in a governor and
legislative council, by whom such ordinances as
were occasionally found expedient for the local
regulation of affairs were enacted.
By an act* of the imperial parliament, the mem-
bers of the legislative council were not to be less
than fifteen, nor to exceed twenty-three in number.
This body was restricted from imposing any taxes
other than for the purpose of making roads, erect-
ing and repairing public buildings, or respecting
the local convenience of any town or district of
the province. The Canadian noblesse, and such
* 14 Geo. III. chap. 83.
6
reputable characters in the province as were
deemed worthy of distinction, were sometimes
selected for a seat in the public councils; but the
government of the day appears to have placed
more reliance upon the British emigrants, chiefly
composed of commercial adventurers, who had
followed the army at the period of the conquest,
than upon the Canadian subjects, who were cau-
tiously admitted to the ministerial confidence.
The direction of affairs in the colony necessarily
fell into hands little capable of impressing the
new subjects with a sense of respect for their con-
querors, or to conciliate their esteem and attach-
ment; and although the obedient habits of the
Canc.dian submitted in silence to the abuses of
the times, it was rather owing to a consciousness
that remonstrance would excite injustice and per-
secution, than from a real acquiescence in the or-
der of things.
The courts of justice and the public offices were
frequently occupied by persons of mean attain-
ments, and sometimes of doubtful integrity: raised
from mediocrity to power and importance, it can
scarcely be suppcsed that they should have mani-
fested that prudence and moderation, which in con-
quest peculiarly characterize well-bred English-
men, nor that such of the new subjects as might be
associated with them in office, could be eminent
aS were
metimes
but the
» placed
s, chiefly
vho had
conquest,
vere Cau.
nfidence.
scessarily
ssing the
their con-
d attach-
its of the
abuses of
sclousness
and per-
in the or-
ces were
bn attain-
y: raised
e, it can
ave mani-
ch in con-
English-
s might be
> eminent
2 Ata eke
4
i
fi
¥
7
ior talents; and that the improvement of the moral
and political concerns of their country, could have
been the serious object of their care. In the
midst of this dearth of virtue and patriotism, the
disinterested exertions of a governor and other
military characters, occasionally relieved the Bri-
tish name from the level to which it had sunk in
the opinion of the Canadians, who accustomed to
warfare, and trained in the camp, had imbibed
those high notions of honour which prevail in all
armies, and which they had a right to expect in
their conquerors.
The endeavours of these, however honourable
to their country and creditable to themselves, were
often fruitless, as they were actively opposed by
persons who aspired at colonial influence, and
who from a community of interests soon combined
into a party, which not only controlled the native
interests, but have been known to influence the go-
vernment itself, and when occasion required, to sa-
crifice the governor. The establishment of this self-
created oligarchy in the colony, thwarted the be-
neficent views of the mother country, and checked
the improvement of the internal state of the pro-
vince. Canada might have flourished even under
the absolute sway of a military governor, whose
honour and reputation, ever dear toa soldier, must
in a great measure have depended upon the pru-
8
dence of his conduct, and the favourable impres-
sion it produced upon the new subjects. Not so
the trade, which, greedy and insatiate of dominion,
were little scrupulous on points of national policy,
and to secure a monopoly in the colonial com-
merce, boldly trampled on the native and landed
interests of the province.
Hence the divisions which at various periods
have agitated Lower Canada, and of which we
shall, as clearly and concisely as we can, pursue
the progress and trace the results. ‘Toxgvoid pro-
lixity, and to be intelligible to the reader, we
shall (however reluctantly), in future, denominate
the combination of which we have marked the
origin, the party, and those who were opposed to
them, as they consisted principally of the new
subjects, proprietors of the soil, the country. .
By the king’s prociamation, shortly after the
peace of 1763, the governor of this, as well as
those of other colonies recently acquired in North
America, were empowered, with the advice of
their respective councils, to summon general as-
semblies for the purpose of enacting laws for the
_ good government of their respective Provinces, so
soon as their state and circumstances would admit
thereof. But the party foresaw that the convoca-
tion of a General Assembly would excite in the
province a spirit of inquiry and resistance to the
le impres-
s. Notso
dominion,
nal policy,
lonial com-
ind landed
us periods
* which we
can, pursue
Kevoid pro-
reader, we
denominate
narked the
opposed to
of the new
miry. .
y-after the
as well as
ed in North
advice of
general as-
laws for the
rovinces, so
ould admit
e convyoca-
kcite in the
tance to the
9
system they had adopted, which must ultimately
triumph; and however liberal might have been the
views of the chief of the colonial Government, his
opinion necessarily yielded to that of his advisers,
whose influence depended upon the existing state
and circumstances of the province, and who, there-
fore, could not be supposed favourably disposed
to a change of the constitution.
A policy so contracted, at once created a jea-
lousy, and checked the growth of one of the most
valuable possessions of the British empire, whose
resources were capable of the most rapid and ex-
tensive developement, had the native enterprise of
the province met with suitable encouragement.
The American revolution cast a multitude of
refugees upon the world, and as Canada had not
acceded to the union, a throng of loyalists crowd-
ed into this and the neighbouring provinces of
Nova Scotia and. New Brunswick, where ample
remuneration was provided for the losses which it
was pretended they had experienced from their
fidelity to the king, and the voluntary exile from
their patrimonial possessions, to which they had
submitted.
These soon acquired weight in the colonial
councils, and the country who saw them with an
eye of distrust, were disposed to question their
talents much less than ibs probity. The party
10
were soon preposterously identified with the go-
vernment itself. The refugee interest gave acti-
vity to the whole, and with characteristic industry
improved upon the system, fortifying more than
ever the barriers which had insensibly been raised
between the government and the people. The
position which had been gained by artifice, was
maintained by fraud, and frequently by violence.
Every trivial symptom of dissatisfaction, or disap-
proval of domestic occurrences, of little or no po-
litical import, was evidence of a revolutionary
spirit, which it appeared to be the peculiar pro-
vince of the party to suppress. Inferences were
drawn as destitute of probability, as they were
‘unconnected with facts; and to guard against con-
spiracy and revolt among the peaceable tenantry
of the province, constituted the principal anxiety
of the party, who found this a convenient mode of
imposing silence upon the country, their political
opponents.
The patient and obedient habits of the colonists,
and their steady adherence to Great Britain
throughout her struggle with the United States in
the revolutionary war, refuted the sinister prog-
nostics of the party, and emboldened the province
to look forward to a constitution upon liberal prin-
ciples, and analogous to that of the parent state.
The party, after some unavailing efforts to mar the
h the go-
ave acti-
industry
ore than
en raised
le. The
fice, was
violence.
or disap-
or no po-
lutionary
uliar pro-
ces were
ley were
ainst con-
tenantry
1 anxiety
t mode of
political
colonists,
t Britain
States in
er prog-
province
eral prin-
ent state.
> mar the
a Ag
Bhs
ie:
%,
11
views of the country, at length found it expedient
to acquiesce with them in the attainment of their
object; and the connexions of the former in Great
Britain, rendered it desirable to the latter to ob-
tain their co-operation in accomplishing tie in-
tended purpose.
The foreign trade at that period, (as indeed it
is at the present day,) was almost exclusively in
the hands of Eur>pean merchants, established in
the cities of Que¥ec and Montreal. Upon these
the country merchants and farmers depended for
the sale of their produce and supplies of British
manufacture, and this monopoly of trade gave the
party an influence throughout the province little
inferior to that even of the government. While
this advantage could be maintained, the proposed
constitution might be made subservient to their
views, and secure them a sway in the government
of the colony, provided the new constitution could
be so modelled as to enable the party to maintain
a decided majority in both branches of the intend-
ed legislature. An effort was therefore made to
procure a constitution qualified by the exclusion
of persons professing the Roman Catholic faith,
which, had it succeeded, would have totally ex-
cluded the Canadian population from all partici-
The
generous policy of the British government revolt-
pation in the government of the province.
12
ed at the insidious proposal. The memorial
afterwards submitted to the king, asked for a
triennial parliament, composed of representatives
to be freely and indiscriminately chosen by the
freeholders of the province; that the council
should be composed of at least thirty members, to
be appointed for life: that the criminal law of
England should be maintained; that the ancient
civil laws of the province should be continued,
liable, however, to such alterations as the new le-
gislature might think proper to make; that the
commercial laws of England might be established
in the province; that the habeas corpus should form
part of the constitution, and in civil causes that
juries be admitted at the option of either party ;
that the sheriffs should be annually elected by the
assembly, and confirmed by the governor, upon
giving security tor the faithful discharge of their
duties; that all offices be performed in person and
not by deputy, unless in the case of leave of ab-
sence; that the appointment of judges should be
for life, and during their residence in the province
and good conduct; tha‘ in ease of their being ac-
cused by the governor of misconduct, the council
should be consulted before any suspension could
ensue; if accused by the people, the complaints
should be heard by the council, with the right of
appeal in favour of the accused to the king; that
memorial
ed for a
sentatives
on by the
> council
mbers, to
al law of
e ancient
‘continued,
1e new le-
that the
stablished
ould form
auses that
ner party;
ed by the
hor, upon
p of their
erson and
ve of ab-
should be
province
being ac-
e council
ion could
pm plaints
> right of
ng; that
eo Bnet th A ae
aM A 0 ie eae Ba ee aed en = ee “as a siete Weta — |, Sea eh “eae
MoS at PION ae et OCT est cy eRe ee . Res oS ea “oe Piabaese 42 taba (Seven ees ee
PL TO ee Se a sie cael ll
TRE,
a I ne Se
130
an .»peal should lie from the colomal courts of
justice to a tribunal consisting of the lord chan-
cellor, and the judges of Westminster-Ha!l, and
finally that the provincial legislature should be
empowered to regulate the inland trade with the
United States, in order to levy such duties as might
be necessary to defray the expenses of the civil
government of the province. The petitioners ap-
pealed with confidence to the imperial parliament
for a deliverance from the confusion which pre-
vailed in the actual state of the colonial govern-
ment, and in the administration of justice. They
prayed for a constitution upon a firm and liberal
basis, and such as might correspond with the desire
they professed of seeing the province become an
ornament to the British crown.
‘: ae government of Great Britain, actuated by a
just regard for the respective advantages of the
old and new subjects residing in Canada, pursued —
a course which it was hoped would extinguish the
animosity that had inflamed the colony.
The European emigrants and refugee popula-
tion had principally established themselves upon
the fertile lands on the north margin of the lakes
Ontario and Erie, where the Canadians had not
yet formed any settlements of consequence. It
was, therefore, determined to divide the province
of Quebec (it was then so called), into two pro-
}
|
Hi]
ait
i)
14
vinces, so as to afford to either description of sub-
jects, a decided ascendency within the tracts of
territory which they respectively occupied, and
thus to confer upon both the full power, exclusively,
to legislate for themselves. This plan was accord-
ingly, at his majesty’s special recommendation,
adopted by the British parliament, and the province
was divided into two separate governments, under
the denomination of Lower Canada and Upper
Canada. In each of these provinces, provincial
legislatures were established, consisting of a house
of assembly, of at least fifty members, for the
lower province, and another for the upper province,
of at least sixteen members, which with the legis-
lative councils and governor for the time being,
were empowered to legislate for their respective
provinces. The members of the assemblies were
to be freely elected by freeholders possessed of
real property to the yearly value of forty shillings,
except in the towns or. townships of either of the
provinces; where to be entitled to a vote, it was
requisite to be possessed of a dwelling-house and
lot of ground to the yearly value of five pounds,
or to have resided one year within such town or
township, next before the date of the writ of sum-
mons for the election, and to have paid one year’s
rent of a dwelling-house, at the rate of ten pounds
per annum. The parliaments were declared
mn of sub-
tracts of
pied, and
cclusively,
as accord-
1endation,
e province
nts, under
nd Upper
provincial
of a house
s, for the
p province,
: the legis-
me being,
respective
blies were
bssessed of
y shillings,
her of the
pte, it was
house and
e pounds,
h town or
it of sum-
one year’s
en pounds
declared
15
quadrennial, and were to meet at least once
every year for the despatch of business. The
legislative councils were to consist of not fewer
than fifteen in Lower Canada, nor less than se-
ven members in Upper Canada; _ to be appointed
by the crown, and to hold their seats for life. His
majesty was authorized by the act to annex to he-
reditary titles of honour, the right of being sum-
moned to the legislative council, a power which,
hitherto, it has not been deemed expedient to
exercise.
A new and enlarged constitution being provided
for Lower Canada, (to which province, it is to be
understood, the sequel will exclusively relate,) its
limits were defined by the proclamation of the
lieutenant-governor, Sir Alured Clarke, of the 18th
November, 1791, and the 26th of December ensu-
ing, was appointed as the day upon which the
constitution was to take effect. On the 2d day of
May following, the province was divided and sub-
divided into counties, cities and towns, each of
which were to choose their representatives for the
assembly, amounting in all to fifty, the lowest num-
ber by law appointed for the provincial represen-
tation in the popular branch of the legislature.
The first elections were favourable to the party,
and it must be owned, to the credit of those gen-
tlemen of the trade who obtained seats in the as-
16
sembly, that they were chiefly instrumental in in-
troducing a system in the mode of conducting the
public business of that body, the advantages
whereof will be long and universally felt in ine
province. Their practical knowledge of the na-
ture of the constitution recently conferred upon the
province, gained them the confidence of the Ca-
nadian members, which, if managed with discre-
tion, might have secured a permanent influence.
The party were, however, precipitate, and in their
eagerness for dominion, they betrayed an unsea-
sonable zeal for the introduction of the English
language, exclusively, into all legislative proceed-
ings and enactments; that roused the indignation
of the country members, who were not acquainted
with that language. ‘They who were even versed
in it, opposed the measure as an atternpt to estab-
lish a precedent, at once unnecessary, ungenerous,
and impolitic. It was contended that such of the
old subjects as had obtained seats in the assembly,
understood French (the vulgar tongue), whereas
few of the new subjects understood English. That
the convenience of the few, ought necéssarily to
yield to that of the multitude. In vain was the
example of the Conqueror William appealed to,
who introduced the Norman dialect into the pro-
ceedings of his councils and courts of justice in
England, after the conquest. The abolition of
ental in in-
ducting the
advantages
felt in ve
> of the na-
ed upon the
of the Ca-
vith discre-
it influence.
and in their
1 an unsea-
the English
ve proceed-
indignation
acquainted
pven versed
pt to estab-
ngenerous,
such of the
e assembly,
>), whereas
lish. That
éssarily to
nin was the
ppealed to,
o the pro-
f justice in
bolition of
17
that disgusting badge of slavery, and the opinion
of a learned commentator* on the English laws,
were retorted upon the advocates of the proposed
measure. Some weeks were even exhausted in
angry debate upon this subject, which ended in a
compromise that the business should be carried on
in either tongue, and that bills presented, should
be put into both languages by the clerk or his as-
sistants; but that the text should be considered to
be that of the language of the law, to which such
bills might relate.
A little caution at this juncture might have been
of the utmost importance to the subsequent tran-
quillity of the province, but the stubborn perse-
verance of the party awoke the suspicion of the
country, who could not reconcile the overbearing
spirit which the former had exhibited in the pre-
sent instance, with the freedom of the new consti-
tution. From this period, and probably from this
circumstance, parties assumed-a distinct character.
The diffident and respectful habits of the Cana-
dian removes him frem that easy intercourse, so
necessary to a good understanding between the
ruler and the people, and gave an advantage to
the party, who, from their situations and connexion
with the administration of the government, had
* Sir William Blackstone.
3
18
fair and frequent opportunities of influencing the
governor in the political concerns of the province.
The delirium of the French revolution had
created a general alarm among the governments of
Europe, and in this solitary corner of the world, it
became fashionable to suspect the country of re-
volutionary principles. The least objection, how-
ever fair and unanswerable, to the ministerial mea-
sures of the day, was attributed to the influence of
these; and imprisonment and disgrace awaited
those who dared to question the propriety of mea-
sures, or to meddle with public affairs contrary to
the sense of the party. The country felt the in-
justice of the imputation, but silently strengthened
under the indignity, while the power of their ad-
versaries, built upon a sandy and shifting founda-
tion, grew proportionally weaker, as the artifice
became palpable. The floating capital of the pro-
vince, and the refugee talents of New-England,
were, however, formidable adversaries against the
plain yeomanry of Canada, and their total discom-
fiture cost the country many an arduous contest.
As the assembly in reality represented the pro-
vince, they, by analogy, were in Lower Canada,
what the house of commons were in England.
The legislative council, by a parity of reasoning,
assimilated themselves to the house of lords, and
accordingly assumed the etiquette and ceremonials
uencing the
1e province.
ylution had
ernments of
he world, it
untry of re-
ection, how-
isterial mea-
influence of
ce awaited
iety of mea-
contrary to
felt the in-
trengthened
of their ad-
ing founda-
the artifice
l of the pro-
w-England,
against the
btal discom-
5 contest.
ed the pro-
er Canada,
n England.
reasoning,
lords, and
eremonials
Asean
19
of that exalted body, in their proceedings and com-
munications with the house of assembly.
The creation of this branch of the Canadian le-
gislature, originated, no doubt, in a just apprecia-
tion of the nature of the British constitution, and
of the advantage of those balances by which it is
poised. But the comparison was futile. The re-
semblance was that of the shadow to the sub-
stance. Far from possessing the comparative in-
fluence in the colony, which the wealth and exten-
sive possessions of the British peerage command
in the weighty concerns of the empire, the legisla-
tive council were, as yet, rather unpopular than
Some of those who held seats in the
legislative, were at the same time members of the
otherwise.
executive council, and such members of this, as
did not belong to the former body, had succeeded
in obtaining seats in the assembly.
The expenses of the civil government of the
province was partially provided for, by certain du-
ties imposed upon the trade of the colony in virtue
The deficit
was supplied by the British government. The
moneys levied under acts of the colonial legislature
were exclusively applied to local purposes, accord-
ing to the directions of that body from time to
time.
of acts of the imperial parliament.
The colonial administration, who appear to
have had an illimited credit with the government at
20
home, cautiously abstained from calling on the as-
sembly for funds to relieve the mother country of
the civil expenses of the provinee, sensible that
such a demand would transfer to the popular
branch of the legislature the influence which the
executive were anxious to secure for themselves.
A community of interests rendered the party
unanimous, and therefore strong; and this strength
and that unanimity were effectual, through the ad-
vantages they derived from the disposal of the pub-
lic means. To maintain the position assumed by the
party, required all the talent and address of which
they were possessed. On every occasion where a
disposition was evinced in the assembly to exercise
those undeniable privileges inherent in the consti-
tution, the prerogative was endangered, or a revo-
lutionary spirit was discovered; and flimsy as these
pretexts may appear at the present day, they pro-
duced. a delusion, which the perseverance of twen-
ty-five years, interspersed with traits of persecu-
tion and injustice, has scarcely brushed away.
It was in the same domineering spirit to which
we have alluded, that the enactment of a law sub-
sequently productive of infinite mischief, took
place in the first session of the second provincial
parliament.*» This was termed “An Act for the
* 2d May, 1797.
on the as-
country of
sible that
e popular
which the
meselves.
the party
is strength
gh the ad-
f the pub-
med by the:
33 of which:
on where a
to exercise
the: consti-
or a: revo-
sy as these:
they pro-
eof twen-
f persecu-
away.
to which
a law sub-
ief, took
provincial
ct for the
21
better preservation of His Majesty’s Government
as by Laws happily established in this Province,”
commonly termed the “Suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act.” By this law the governor was au-
thorized to confine without bail or mainprize, by
warrant under the hand of three members of the
executive council, any person guilty of high trea-
son, misprision of high treason, or upon suspicion
of high treason, or treasonab:e practices. Though
the country knew the extent and danger of the
power thus conferred upon their adversaries, who
had only to suspect them of treasonable practices,
(and nothing was easier, as all opposition to the
measures of the party was in their opinion a mis-
prision at least,) to furnish a pretext to put into ac-
tion this engine of despotism, they submitted to
the sacrifice. To have refused would have in-
4 volved the country in groundless imputations of
disaffection towards the government; and it was,
therefore, deemed: more expedient to hazard the
experiment of furnishing the party with a weapon,
which, if used with imprudence, would at the end
defeat their purpose, than to incur the risk of be-
q ing considered reluctant to secure the government
against remote, or even imaginary dangers.
The criminal laws of the province were at all
times adequate to the support and security of his
majesty’s government against intestine commotion
22
or foreign influence, and the history of Lower Ca-
nada affords but a solitary instance of a convic-
tion for treason, and that, not of a native nor inhabi-
tant of the province. A sorry adventurer from the
United States, had conceived the chimerical pro-
ject of seizing the fortifications of Quebec, and
effecting a revolution in the province, under the
patronage, and with promises of protection from
the French minister then in the United States of
America. A total stranger in Canada, and alike
destitute of adherents and resources, his plans
were so foreign from those which denote a sane un-
derstanding, that we may be pardoned in believing
him far less deserving of the vengeance of the law
than of compassion, and confinement as a Junatic.
He was, however, legally tried, condemned, and
executed asa traitor.* The example of this sorry
individual was favourable to the views of the
party, as it tended to promote the opinion abroad,
that the province contained materials prone to
combustion, which although totally untrue, present-
ed the country in an odious light to those who had
not the means of ascertaining the real state of
things.
The courts of judicature were, by an act passed
in the first session of the first provincial parlia-
* His name was —— M‘Lean. He was executed at Quebec,
im the year 1796.
ower Ca-
a convic-
or inhabi-
r from the
srical pro-
ebec, and
under the
ction from
| States of
and alike
, his plans
2a sane un-
in believing
.of the law
s a Junatic.
mned, and
f this sorry
ws of the
ion abroad,
5 prone to
e, present-
se who had
al state of
act passed
ial parlia-
ed at Quebec,
23
ment, regenerated, and tribunals of original juris-
diction (termed courts of king’s bench) were
established in the districts of Quebec, Montreal,and
Three Rivers. The court at Quebec was to con-
sist of the chief justice of the province, and three
puisne judges; that of Montreal was to consist of
a district chief justice, and three puisne judges.
The court of king’s bench at Three Rivers was to
consist of a provincial judge (to be resident at
Three Rivers), and any two judges of either of
the other districts. From these courts an appeal
lies to the executive council of the province, or to
a quorum consisting of five members of that body,
and from thence in certain cases to the king in
council.
The vices of this system of judicature, however
uprightly and ably it may have been conducted as
far as its functionaries are concerned, have created
much disgust, as well as from its peculiar organi-
zation as from the exorbitant expense of maintain-
ing it. Upwards of twenty thousand pounds are
annually absorbed, to defray the administration of
justice in Lower Canada alone. Gentlemen se-
lected either from among the landholders or the
trade of the province, however respectable in other
attainments, can scarcely be considered capable
of forming correct opinions in a court of the high-
est authority in the colony, on those legal questions
24
which in the inferior courts have perplexed men of
professional education. The judges of these courts
alternately preside in appeal to revise each others
judgments, and their influence must be great with
such of their colleagues in that tribunal, who have
not the advantages of professional attainments.
Concerned at once in the legislature, in the coun-
cil and in the judicature, the public could not be
persuaded of their disinterestedness and impar-
tiality in many instances, particularly in those po-
litical points which they were known to have main-
tained in one capacity, and which, to be con-
sistent, they could not relinquish in the other.
We shall not soil our pages with a relation of
the disgraceful occurrences springing from this
anomaly, in which the dignity of the bench
and the freedom of elections have been vio-
lated. Such, in the intemperance of party heat,
was the perversion of public justice, that a reso-
lute and persevering assembly, rather than submit
to the flagrant abuses which destroyed the public
confidence in the king’s courts, chose to incur the
hazardous experiment of two successive dissolu-
tions. The intrigues carried on, and the animosi-
ties created at a contested election, were rightly
thought derogatory to the elevated rank of persons
clothed with the judicial character. Arguments
were exhausted, and incontestable facts were pro-
1 men of
se courts
*h others
eat with
yho have
inments.
he coun-
| not be
d impar-
those po-
ve main-
be con-
1e other.
lation of
rom this
e bench
een vi0-
arty heat,
at a reso-
An submit
e public
incur the
p dissolu-
P animosi-
re rightly
bf persons
rguments
were pPro-
Se to Hea ea i RR
25
duced and recorded of the serious inconveniences
resulting from the interference of a judge at elec-
tions ; yet, never was a virtuous cause supported by
more anxiety and solicitude than the party exhibit-
ed in opposing the honourable views of the coun-
try, in removing obstructions to the pure and im-
partial dispensation of justice. The efforts of the
assembly to accomplish this desirable purpose,
were contemplated in the most unfavourable light,
their motives were wilfully misrepresented, and
finally an unsuspecting viceroy was involved in a
contest, that might easily have been avoided by a
manly and dignified concession, which by procras-
tination lost its merit and lowered even the ad-
ministration of the government in the opinion of
the people. In the struggle to which we allude
the party were worsted, and their influence was at
once annihilated.
Men eminent for their talents, their probity, and
their loyalty, who had frankly avowed their senti-
ments on the subject, were, in some instances, pub-
licly insulted and reviled, and in others wantonly
cast into prison, under a fictious suspicion of trea-
sonable practices. The administration, as if con-
scious of the injustice, did not, in a single instance,
though earnestly solicited by the individuals who
groaned under its ssiaate “nid presume to hazard
26
the trial of their imputed guilt by the verdict of a
jury.
The party had at this juncture reached the ze-
nith of a baleful career, from which it was preci-
pitated by the stubborn zeal it displayed in oppos-
ing measures, evidently wholesume, and in slander-
ing the country at this unpropitious season. The
exclusion of judges from a seat in the assembly,
and the acquisition of the civil list, were the main
objects of a decided majority of the assembly and
of the province at large, and these were concerns
in which the prerogative was seriously interested,
and offences little short of misprision of treason.
What in specious argument was wanting, was sup-
plied in mysterious inferences by the party, whose
boldness in assertion and superiority in cabal,
checked the timid progress of the country in the
pursuit of these objects, which by a steady perseve-
rance they ultimately obtained, and which, indeed,
were at length spontaneously conceded, nay, recom-
mended by the crown. The general circulation
of a free though perhaps a licentious paper in the
French language, gave the people an idea of the
subjects agitated in the legislature, and of the dif-
ferent views in which they were considered by the
party and the country. The people, alive to the
arguments of the press in support of the measures
for which the assembly had been dissolved, une-
lict of a
1 the ze-
AS preci-
N oppos-
slander-
n. The
ssembly,
the main
mbly and
concerns
iterested,
f treason.
was sup-
y, whose
in cabal,
ry in the
y perseve-
, indeed,
ny ,recom-
irculation
per in the
ea of the
bf the dif-
ed by the
ve to the
measures
ed, une-
27
quivocally expressed their sense on the conduct of
that branch of the legislature, by a re-election of
the old members. The leading men of the party,
finding their influence ebbing, for the most part de-
clined their elections to save the disgrace of a de-
feat, and such as entered the lists of candidates
were unsuccessful.
The arbitrary measures of the Craig administra-
tion were the effect of the party spirit prevalent
at that period. Men of temperate counseis may
have disapproved of the means sometimes employ-
ed, though they could not reasonably condemn the
ends proposed by the assembly in this season of
difficulty. But in the whole tenor of their pro-
ceedings, the most scrupulous bigot in politics can
trace no real symptoms of disaffection to the go-
vernment, nor conceive any plausible vindication
for the severity which the viceroy exercised to-
wards individuals whose probity was unquestiona-
ble. That he acted, however, with sincerity, and
upon a mistaken conviction that his measures were
indispensable, is, at the present day, as certain as
that it is owing to the personal virtues of this me-
ritorious though deluded officer, that his admini-
stration has not been stained with innocent blood.
Strange as it must appear, it is nevertheless true,
that the odious law under which these arbitrary
imprisonments were made, was, after a continu-
SAAT SER AEROS ALR TS STIR Scone = a
a ea an ca ER Ge
il
8
ance of fifteen years of profound tranquillity in
North America, discontinued at a moment, when
war was on the point of bursting out with the
United States. Yet his majesty’s government ne-
ver had cause to regret its extinction; nor do the
courts in Lower Canada furnish a single instance
of a conviction for treason during the late war.
A groundless belief had been propagated abroad,
which, unhappily, influenced the councils of the
neighbouring states, and accelerated a wasteful
and unnecessary war, that a seditious disposition
prevailed in Canada. The broils excited by the
overbearing insolence of party, were mistaken for
disaffection to the government, and as the error
was congenial to the views of the party, it was ra-
ther cherished than corrected. The experiment
of a war, undertaken with the avowed intention
of conquering the Canadas, removed the impres-
sion, and as it refuted the calumnious imputations
of disloyalty which had been cast upon the colony,
achieved also the downfal of its internal adversa-
ries.
The country having gained a decided ascen-
dency, conducted the public affairs with unanimity
and despatch, and the governor, on the declara-
tion of war, finding them fully disposed to afford
him the utmost assistance of which the province
was capable, generously reposed his confidence in
uillity in
nt, when
with the
ment ne-
or do the
- instance
> war.
d abroad,
ils of the
wasteful
isposition
ed by the
staken for
the error
it was ra-
periment
intention
2 impres-
putations
e colony,
adversa-
d ascen-
nanimity
declara-
to afford
province
dence in
29
their zeal for the public service. Liberated from
the habitual constraint, under which they had la-
boured, it is not surprising that reaction should
have sprung from the resentment of the country,
who now asserted the right of the commons of the
province, to inquire into, and impeach the conduct
of those, who, above the ordinary reach of the
laws, might, without this salutary control, trample
upon the liberties of the people. The novelty of
this measure of the assembly, rendered it expe-
dient to refer to the government at home for ad-
vice on so delicate a subject, and the latent re-
mains of the party finding the turn which affairs
had taken, in the bitterness of disappointment,
conspired at the ruin of the governor. Accident
alone has cast a ray of light on a dark and unwor-
thy transaction, in which the conduct of that offi-
cer, and the loyal exertions of the country have
been slandered and misrepresented.* The pro-
* The paper, here alluded to, was put into the hands of one
of the superior servants of the castle, at Quebec, during the
absence of the governor, while at Montreal, with directions to
carry it round to the different persons concerned in the trausac-
tion for their signatures. This poor, though honest, individual,
suspecting something clandestine, from the charge of secresy
which had been enjoined him, had the curiosity to look into
the paper. Upon finding its contents to be of so pointed a na-
ture against the governor, he took it to a gentleman of Sir
George’s family, requesting that he would peruse it, saying that
30
ceedings of the assembly and its progressive en-
croachments on the prerogative, and on the other
branches of the legislature, and the inclination it
had shown to demolish the whole judiciary system,
with a view, as it was asserted, of establishing a
control over the constituted authorities cf the pro-
vince, were represented in a strong though exag-
gerated manner. The administration of the pre-
ceding, was contrasted, with much acrimony and
false colouring, with that of the present governor,
who was represented as trucking to the assembly,
and seeking popularity by a studied disregard of
the system pursued by his predecessor, and of those
persons who had supported it. He was accused
of having selected for a seat on the bench, one of
those men who had been imprisoned by the late
governor for treasonable practices, and against
whoin (they observed) proceedings on that charge
were still pending. His selection of others of the
same description, for offices of trust and emolu-
ment, was also noticed, with some personal reflec-
it contained matter which he thought it his duty to make knowi
at head-quarters. The gentleman to whom it was communi-
cated did not think proper to take a copy of it, but acquainted
the governor with the nature of its contents. We regret that,
instead of the substance of this document, it is notin our power
to put on record, aproduction of which even the rancour of a
divine has never produced a parallel.
ssive en-
he other
nation it
y system,
lishing a
the pro-
igh exag-
the pre-
nony and
yovernor,
assembly,
regard of
1 of those
; accused
h, one of
y the late
against
at charge
prs of the
d emolu-
al reflec-
hake knowii
5 communi-
acquainted
regret that,
our power
ncour of a
F
:
31
tions. The impeachments of the chief justices by
tae assembly were particularly adverted to; and
as the result of this policy on the part of the go-
vernor, and of those principles in the assembly, it
was stated, that the very “life-blood of loyalty
was tainted in the land and the government itself
palsied to the heart.” These evils were said to be
of vital moment, and such as could only be reme-
died by the interference of the king’s government,
which ought no longer to leave them to the com-
bined results of “indifference, inaction and inca-
pacity.
Such were the sentiments entertained by those
to whom the governor was to look for advice, in
seasons of emergency and danger; and it is not
surprising that his confidence should have been
withdrawn from persons in whom he could place
no further reliance. The discovery of this memo-
rial provoked others from the friends of the ad-
ministration, and the yeomanry of the province, to
his majesty’s government, expressive of their satis-
faction with, and reliance on the wisdom of the
governor’s administration. These addresses were
transmitted to England, where, there is cause to
believe, they were all laid aside without any notice.
This attempt to injure the commander of the
forces, was by some who had been concerned in it,
afterwards, awkwardly excused by assurances to
32
his excellency, that they had understood it, not as
reflecting upon him, but upon the minister; upon
that minister to whom it was known to have been
transmitted, and to whose conduct assuredly it was
inapplicable.*
Notwithstanding the cabals which undermined
this administration, the governor would have main-
tained his ground, had not the : .verse experienced
at Plattsburgh, wounded tk:: national pride, and
rendered his removal unavoidable. The province
under this administration made rapid progress in
the improvement of its constitutional endowments.
While the needs of the government were liberally
supplied by the assembly, that body seasonably
availed itself of the advantages of its position, and
boldly exercised the privileges inherent in the po-
pular branch of the legislature, and established a
salutary check upon the provincial authorities,
which hitherto had put control at defiance.
The work commenced under this, was not how-
ever consummated unt*] late in the short, though
* It is, however, an extraordinary circumstance, that some of
the persons (gentlemen of no mean distinction in Lower Cana-
da) who subscribed this paper, were not even themselves clear
of its true meaning and drift. As a proof of this, one of those
who signed it, added a memorandum or protest, that by so doing,
he was not to be understood as asking for any alteration in the
constitution of the province.
it, not as
ter; upon
ave been
dly it was
\dermined
ave main-
perienced
ride, and
2 province
yrogress in
dowments.
e liberally
seasonably
sition, and
in the po-
ablished a
nuthorities,
Ace.
s not how-
prt, though
, that some of
Lower Cana-
mselves clear
one of those
t by so doing,
pration in the
pag
“ro
me
yf
ss
5
‘
i
33
eventful administration of his successor, Sir John
Coape Sherbrooke, than whom no man ever better
understood the people he was sent to govern, nor
entered more cordially into the spirit of their con-
stitution. With a thorough knowledge of the par-
ties which divided the province, he attentively
listened to both, but yielded toneither. Although
in some instances he appeared to concede, yet in
reality he gained more in his transactions with the
other branches of the legislature than he gave;
and the prudent and equitable spirit of his reign
was infinitely better adapted to the times, than a
punctilious adherence to prerogative, which had
unmeaningly been clamoured up by the party
under former administrations. The events which
grew out of the first session of the assembly, after
his assumption of the government, enabled him to
gratify that body in a way that somewhat relieved
the reluctance with which the old question had
been relinquished. He rendered an important ser-
vice te the country, in augmenting the numbers of
the legislative council, where from this circum-
stance, a more liberal spirit shone forth than here-
tofore prevailed in that branch, whose doors, hi-
therto closed, were now thrown open to the public.
They by this means acquired credit among the
people, corresponding to the wisdom which guid-
ed their councils, and thus made some progress
Ls
rf |
34 eS
towards the purpose intended by their establish- a
ment, a check upon the more solid materials of 4
the lower house. The recent weignt conferred j
upon the legislative council by the important pri- q
vilege of deciding on all cases of impeachment by
the assembly, as declared by the sovereign will, a
may probably lead to resu:is more congenial to q
private ambit:un than to the public weal. Here- ||
ditary honours upheld by extensive patrimonial
estates, alike independent of the sovereign and
it | _ the subject, may in Europe be the support of the
Hi former, and the protection of the latter, and are,
i therefore, essentially connected with the existence
of the state.
The creation of an hereditary colonial noblesse,
te destitute of hereditary possessions, would entail a
Mi needy progeny of dependants upon the provincial
government, and by closing, against plebeian merit,
the avenues to the royal patronage, necessarily
tend to destroy the popular influence of the crown.
The narrow policy of checking the develope-
ment of the colonial constitution, heretofore preva-
lent in the province of Lower Canada, as it has
no doubt been contrary to the intention, will also
be found contrary to the interests of the British
government. This province, accustomed to derive
all its political and commercial advantage from
Great Britain, will, if admitted to a fair participa-
stablish-
erials of
onferred
‘tant pri-
iment by
1g will,
genial to
|. Here-
‘trimonial
eign and
ort of the
, and are,
existence
noblesse,
d entail a
provincial
pian merit,
ecessarily
the crown.
develope-
ore preva-
| as it has
, will also
the British
d to derive
tage from
participa-
39
tion of them, in common with other subjects of the
empire, find no motive to seek a change of govern-
ment; on the contrary, many inducements will con-
cur to resist a political connexion with the adja-
cent republic in case of a rupture.
The stale conjecture that the mother country
would abandon her North American possessions,
as a load too onerous and unprofitable to be main-
tained, is now exploded. The military occupation
of Canada is, at present, the only charge sustain-
ed for its preservation, and the advantages of the
trade alone, exclusive of the means, which an ex-
tent of fertile territory greater than all Europe,
affords to Great Britain of providing for her sur-
plus population, and thus strengthening her empire,
vastly outweighs the momentary consideration of
the actual expense.
Here we may be indulged in some observations,
on colonising the unsettled parts of the province,
for which the present emigration from Europe
offers a favourable opportunity. The present sys-
tem of granting lands in Canada, is attended with
such serious inconveniences to settlers, as abso-
lutely to prevent the clearing and establishment of
many of the most valuable tracts of land in North
America. By the act of parliament establishing
the present constitution of the Canadas, it is pro-
vided, that a proportion equal to one-seventh of all
SSE SSS
= nto na annem
36
crown lands which should thereafter be granted, be
reserved for the support of a protestant clergy. A
further proportion of one-seventh, is in like manner
reserved in virtue of the king’s instructions, for the
future disposition of the crown. These reserves
are, as nearly as circumstances will admit, of the
same quality as the lands in respect of which they
are allotted and reserved, and extend in all direc-
tions over the several townships in the province.
The settlers who enter the forest and clear their
lands, are, by these crown and clergy reserves,
which remain in a state of nature, every where
surrounded by an impenetrable wood, which at
once serves as aresort for beasts of prey, and
shade the adjacent land so as to prevent it from re-
ceiving, sufficiently, the warmth of the sun to ripen
the grain. The opening and maintenance of roads
over these reserves, which exclusively fall upon
the neighboui '~z settlers, if they are desirous of
keeping open an easy communication with either
of the markets of Quebec or Montreal, is, also,
another very serious burden upon the farmers re-
sident in the townships. This, however, is a
grievance which it is competent for the provincial
legislature to remove, and as the subject has al-
ready been taken into consideration, it is probable
that measures for that purpose will, at an early
period, be adopted by the legislature. The former
anted, be
ergy. A
e manner
ns, for the
reserves
it, of the
hich they
all direc-
province.
lear their
reserves,
‘ry where
which at
prey, and
t from re-
n to ripen
p of roads
fall upon
esirous of
ith either
is, also,
armers re-
ver, 1S a
provincial
ct has al-
s probable
an early
he former
ee ee
ee ERR et re
37
is an evil which can only be removed by the go-
vernment at home, and until the grievance be en-
tirely removed, the improvement of the townships
must linger, to the disadvantage and disgust of the
‘population established in those parts of the pro-
vince. The proportion of lands reserved in each
township for the crown and clergy,if comprehended
within a single area or lot, instead of spreading over
the face of the country, in lots of two hundred acres
each, one should imagine, would fully answer the
purpose for which the reserves were intended by
the government, without causing any inconvenience
to the settlers. .
The uncultivated or wood lands in Lower Ca-
nada, east of the Saint Lawrence, are generally of
an excellent soil,,and alone are more than ade-
quate for the reception of all the emigrants from
the United Kingdom for a century to come. The
climate is mild and favourable, far beyond what it
has generally, though erroneously, been under-
stood in Europe; and judging from the productive
nature of the ground, in places where infant settle-
ments have been already formed, this section of
the country will, at no very remote period, become
the granary of Lower Canada. The liberal ap-
propriations of the legislature of the province for
the improvement of the internal communications,
if the moneys have been judiciously laid out, will
38
materially facilitate the settlement of these town-
ships.
To colonise these invaluable lands, is an object
worthy of the serious attention of the mother
country. The government by incurring a very
inconsiderable expense in providing implements of
husbandry, and a subsistence for British emigrants
to Canada, until a crop could be obtained from the
new lands assigned to them, would induce thou-
sands of valuable farmers to settle in Canada, in
preference to the United States. The children
and descendants of these people, instead of owing
their allegiance to a foreign government, would
form a sturdy and loyal yeomanry along the Cana-
dian frontier; and the weak policy of securing
those possessions by an impenetrable wilderness,
would be replaced by the sounder method of de-
fending them by a robust population.
To hazard any flighty speculations on the future
destiny of the British North American dominions,
is not our intention; but it must be admitted by
those who will examine their geographical posi-
tion, with the advantages of their soil and climate
in most places, that they are susceptible of becom-
ing a most important and powerful appendage of
the empire. Although amidst the busy and bril-
liant concerns in which the attention of the British
government has since some years been engaged, the
e town-
n object
mother
a very
ments of
nigrants
from the
ce thou-
nada, in
children
of owing
would
1e Cana-
securing
iderness,
d of de-
he future
minions,
tted by
al posi-
climate
becom-
dage of
nd bril-
British
aged, the
39
intrinsic value of these possessions has unavoida-
bly been overlooked, the period is at length, pro-
bably, arrived, when they are considered of great
national importance, and a subject of the earnest
solicitude of the parent state. The overflowing
abundance of the British population, and the large
and disposable capital of the nobility and princi-
pal land owners in Great Britain, cannot be more
usefully and profitably employed, than in colonis-
ing the new and productive soil of the British
North American territories. The national re-
sources would thereby be infinitely multiplied,
while the situations of the emigrating tenantry, and
the private fortunes of those proprietors, who
should invest a capital in the purchase and clear-
ing of lands, would be essentially promoted.
Among other considerations, not the least interest-
ing, would be that of preventing a valuable portion
of the British population from forsaking their native
government, and incorporating themselves with a
nation, with whom, from the ties of their common
origin, their language, religion, and customs, they
will soon be identified ; whose principles they will
easily imbibe, and whose interests, becoming their
own, they will not scruple to promote, by assisting
them to dirpossess us, at some future day, of those
lands, the value whereof the United States are per-
fectly acquainted with.
40
The recent appointment of an illustrious person-
age to the vice-royalty of British North America,
and the cheering prospect of a permanent peace
with the United States, must be subjects of real
gratification to all who take an interest in the ge-
neral prosperity of this portion of the British em-
pire. The attention of the wealthy and enterpris-
ing from home, will, probably, be turned to the
Canadas, where an immense field is displayed for
the improvements, and a certain recompense awaits
the industry of the husbandman. A copious mi-
gration of English yeomanry, under the patronage
of the British government, or of some of the higher
classes of the British people, would, ina short
time, materially improve the political and agricul-
tural aspect of Lower Canada. The exotic pre-
judices, which have shot up with such luxuriance
as to overshadow the genuine growth of the land,
would languish under the healthy shade of the
British oak; while a cummunity of interests
among all denominations of the king’s subjects in
Lower Canada, preserved and maintained by the
wisdom of government, would bring about an unity
in sentiment and interest, which would, at once,
render the province happy within and respected
abroad, prosperous in peace, and doubly secure in
the event of war.
Bia #
} person-
America,
nt peace
; of real
1 the ge-
itish em-
nterpris-
d to the
layed for
se awaits
ious mi-
atronage
he higher
1a short
agricul-
otic pre-
xuriance
the land,
e of the
interests
bjects in
1 by the
an unity
at once,
espected
ecure in
es
ae
SSIS ass a ia eet. cc hee
MEMOIRS, &c.
Lacurenant-Generat Sin Gorpon Drummonp had
aerved in the Canadas during the administrations
of Sir James Henry Craig, and from his intercourse
with those who were thought to have been in the
confidence of that governor, apprehensions were
entertained that he might have imbibed the preju-
dices of his reign.
The only occurrence, however, of any moment,
to which the attention of the reader may be turn-
ed in the course of his short administration, is the
result of the impeachments preferred by the house
of assembly against the chief justices. The arti-
cles of complaint had been transmitted to England
by Sir George Prevost. The misunderstanding
between the legislative council and assembly,
which sprung from these measures, as already no-
ticed, deprived the latter of the means of deputing
an agent to prosecute the complaints in England.
The legislative council denied the right of the
assembly to impeach, a wie with their concur-
1815.] 42
rence,* and, although this doctrine could not be
constitutionally maintained, yet as the colonial
laws were silent on the subject, it was apprehend-
ed that sufficient influence might be exerted at
home, to discountenance this new pretension of
the assembly, which if acceded to, would establish
a serious, though salutary, restraint upon the con-
duct of public men, and few gentlemen of the for-
mer body, at the period to which we allude, could
be considered a: personally disinterested in this
respect.
The inability of the assembly, from this circum-
stance, to urge their pretensions by means of an
agent, gave cause to expect that in the absence of
any person for that purpose, the impeachments
would be overlooked as a concern of little import-
ance. As, however, one of the gentlemen impli-
cated had proceeded to England for the purpose
of repelling the accusations brought against him,
there was some prospect that the government at
home would, were it only in justice to these gen-
tlemen, admit the principle, in order to enable
them to justify their conduct.
The decision of this preliminary question, on
which a difference subsisted between the two
branches of the colonial legislature, seemed indis-
* See Appendix, letter A.
not be
olonial
‘ehend-
rted at
sion of
stablish
the con-
the for-
e, could
| in this
circum-
ns of an
sence of
hments
import-
n impli-
purpose
nst him,
ment at
ese gen-
enable
tion, on
he two
d indis-
43 {1815.
pensable, before any inquiry could properly be in-
stituted, as well from the novelty of the question
itself, as to enable the assembly to appoint an
agent; a measure from which the legislative coun-
cil, after the admission of such a principle on the
part of the British government, could not plausibly
withhold its consent.
It was not until after the lapse of a twelvemonth
from the transmission of the impeachments to Eng-
land, and soon after the recall and arrival of Sir
George Prevost in Britain, that any serious atten-
tion appears to have been bestowed upon them by
government. On the 28th June, 1815, a report
from a committee of the lords of his majesty’s most
honourable privy council, dated the 24th of the
same month, pursuant to a reference concerning
the impeachments, was read and confirmed in
council by his royal highness the prince regent.
Those charges against the chief justices, which re-
lated to the rules of practice in their respective
courts, were alone taken into consideration ; and
it was by an order in council, declared that these
rules were made under authority of the legislative
ordinances and laws of the province, and conse-
quently that neither of the chief justices, nor the
courts in which they respectively presided, had
exceeded their jurisdiction, nor been guilty of any
assumption of legislative power.
1215.) 44
The charges against the chief justice of the pro-
vince, which related to advice alleged to have been
given to Sir James Henry Craig, were altogether
excluded from consideration, because the admis-
sion of such a principle, would place it in the
power of a governor of a province, to divest him-
self of all responsibility on points of political go-
vernment.
The dismissal of the complaints was published
at Quebec, late in November, by the circulation of
a printed pamphlet, containing a copy of the order
in council, with a partial correspondence between
Lords Bathurst and Chetwynd, and the chief jus-
tice of Lower Canada, then in London.*
The sudden termination of an affair in which the
province had taken a lively interest created a gene-
ral sensation, and it was surmised that the assem-
bly would not consider any acquittal of the chief
justices as satisfactory, until heard in support of
the complaints. Others contended that the deci-
sion of the prince regent must be taken by the as-
sembly as definitive, and that to call it in question
would amount to a high contempt of the imperial
government, and the royal authority.
The legislature met on the 26th January. On
the 2d February, the administrator in chief sent a
* See Appendix, B.
the pro-
ve been
ogether
- admis-
. in the
est him-
tical go-
ublished
lation of
he order
between
hief jus-
rhich the
ha gene-
b assem-
he chief
pport of
he deci-
the as-
question
mperial
a
¥
AG
1P
ie
Ait ay
Re
AD [1815.
message by his civil secretary to the house of as-
sembly, which was read at the bar, acquainting
that body with the dismissal of their complaints
against the chief justices, and the opinion of the
prince regent relative to the conduct of the assem-
bly in impeaching these persons, little tlattering to
the members, who had, in the preceding parlia-
ment, supported the impeachments.*
The assembly, indignant at the fate which their
complaints had received, immediately after the
messenger had retired from their bar, ordered a
call of the house for the 14th of the same month.
The message was at the same time referred to a
committee of the whole, and it was unanimously
resolved that the house would, on the fourteenth,
resolve itself into a general committee on the mes-
sage.
The subject was on the fourteenth referred to
the consideration of a special committee of seven
members, to whom two others were afterwards
added, with directions to report their opinion on
the most expedient manner of proceeding on the
same. On the twenty-third this committee report-
ed .o the house, that having maturely deliberated
upon the order of reference, they were of opinion
that the matters disclosed in his excellency’s mes-
* Seo Appendix, C.
[1815. 46
sage, would render necessary an humble represen-
tation and petition to his royal highness the prince
regent, and that the great importance of the mat-
ters involved in the said message, made it advise-
able that the wisdom of the house should be con-
sulted, and its sense taken preparatory to such re-
presentation and petition.
On the twenty-fourth the assembly accordingly
came to some resolutions on the subject. By these
were expressed, a sense of the public duty under
which the house had acted in impeaching the
chief justice ; its opinions of the right of the com-
mons of Lower Canada to be heard, and of hav-
ing an opportunity of adducing evidence in sup-
port of their charges; the causes which had pre-
vented them from maintaining those charges; their
desire of having an opportunity so to do; and final-
ly, that an humble representation and petition, on
behalf of the commons of Lower Canada, to his
royal highness the prince regent be prepared, ap-
pealing to the justice of his majesty’s government,
and praying that an opportunity might be afforded
to his majesty’s most dutiful commons of Lower
Canada, to be heard upon, and to maintain their
complaints.* A special committee was then ap-
pointed, for preparing an humble representation
* See Appendix, D.
>presen-
€ prince
the mat-
, advise-
be con-
such re-
ordingly
By these
ty under
hing the
the com-
1 of hav-
e in sup-
had pre-
res; their
and final-
tition, on
a, to his
ared, ap-
ernment,
afforded
of Lower
ain their
then ap-
sentation
A7 [1815.
and petition, in conformity with the la.’ of these
resolutions.
Whether Sir Gordon Drummond was impelled
by his instructions from home, to resort to a disso-
lution in the event that the assembly should re-
sume this subject, or whether he spontaneously ex-
ercised the prerogative on the occasion, we cannot
with certainty assert. On the twenty-sixth, before
any’ of the measures which had been resolved
were brought to ivaturity, his arrival at the coun-
cil chamber was announced by a discharge of ar-
tillery. The assembly being summoned to attend,
he, in avery short speech, expressed his regret
that they should have allowed any consideration to
overbear the respect due to the decision of his
royal highness the prince regent, and announced
his determination to prorogue the present parlia-
ment, and to recur to the sense of the people by
an immediate dissolution.
Several subjects of the utmost importance were
before the assembly in this session, but no more
than a single act* received the royal sanction. The
expediency of having an agent in England to at-
tend to the interests of the province, whenever it
might be requisite, was again considered ; but, the
dissolution prevented a perseverance in the mea-
* An act to regulate the trial of controverted elections, &c.
1815.] A8
sure. The assembly, in pursuance of a resolution
made in the last session, passed a bill “to appro-
priate a sum of money therein mentioned, to the
purchase of a service of plate to be presented to
Sir George Prevost, late governor-in-chief of the
province, as a mark of respect for his character,
and of gratitude for the services which he had ren-
dered to the province.”"* This bill being sent
up for the concurrence of the legislative council,
was rejected by that body.
The elections for the new assembly took place
in the month of March, and few alterations in the
representation were made throughout the province.
In the meantime, the administrator in chief re-
ceived notification of the appointment of Sir John
Coape Sherbrooke, to the chief command in Bri-
tish North America; and on the twenty-first day of
May he sailed for England, having on the day of
his departure received a valedictory address from
the citizens of Quebec. The temporary admini-
stration of the government devolved upon Major-
General Wilson, until the arrival of Sir John Coape
Sherbrooke.
The merit of Sir Gordon Drummond, in defend-
ing Upper Canada against a greatly superior force
of the enemy, stands already recorded, and justly
* The sum appropriated by the bill was £5000.
solution
0 appro-
, to the
ented to
of of the
raracter,
had ren-
ing sent
council,
ok place
ns in the
province.
chief re-
Sir John
d in Bri-
st day of
e day of
ress from
admini-
n Major-
n Coape
defend-
ior force
and justly
000.
49 [1815.
entitles him to an exalted station among the sol-
diers of hiscountry. The shortness and untoward
circumstances which accidentally intervened during
his reign in Lower Canada, place his civil admini-
stration in a less favourable light than might reason-
. ably have been expected, under less perplexing oc-
currences from a_ person of his acknowledged
worth. His popularity somewhat abated after he
had dissolved the assembly, and this indeed, al-
though others have been urged, is the only objec-
tion raised against his administration, which is
susceptible of any plausible reasoning. On ex-
amining the pretensions of the assembly, they will
be found compatible with the freedom of the cons
stitution, and one can scarcely avoid thinking that
a compromise might have been made without re-
curring to a dissolution, an experiment which on
former occasions had been tried with so little ad-
vantage. - On the merits of the impeachments
themselves we hazard nothing, but as they profess-
ed to be the grievances and complaints of an entire
province acting by its representatives, it seems but
reasonable that a hearing should have been grant-
ed, and the s*bject maturely discussed in the pre-
sence of all the parties concerned, or of their ac-
credited agents. The legislative council having
denied the right of the assembly to impeach, had
therefore refused its one to a money appropria-
1815.] 50
tion for the mission of an agent to England on be-
half of the commons of Lower Canada. The go-
vernment at home could not have been acquainted
with the controversy which existed on this subject
between these two branches of the colonial legis-
lature, and might, therefore, easily have accounted
for the absence of an accredited agent to urge the
pretensions of the assembly. Had a formal deci-
sion on the right asserted by that body, of im-
peaching persons in office, suspected of high
crimes and misdemeanors, been pronounced, and
a subsequent hearing of all parties ensued, after a
reasonable delay .and notification to that effect,
whatever might have been the result of the com-
plaints in question, the. government by this course
of procedure would have afforded a valuable in-
stance of its disposition to attend to the real or
imaginary grievances of the colony, which, in such
a case, could not but have been satisfied with the
justice of the former. In justification, however,
of the conduct of the administrator in chief, whose
disposition has universally been acknowledged as
easy and conciliating, it may very fairly be infer-
red, that his instructions on the present occasion
were such as to leave him no discretionary means
of compromising the subject with the assembly.
The wisdom of these instructions (if any such were
given), we are not at all disposed to call in ques-
on be-
The go-
nainted
subject
1 legis-
‘“ounted
irge the
al deci-
of im-
of high
ed, and
, aftera
effect,
he com-
course
able in-
real or
in such
with the
owever,
, whose
dged as
e infer-
ccasion
means
sembly.
h were
n ques-
51 (1815.
tion, for although some dissatisfaction may have
resulted from them, it would be rash to decide
where opinions are widely divided, and where a
government is concerned whose decisions even in
error are respectable; whose honour is proverbial
among the nations, and will prove, we trusi, as
durable as the world itself.
(1816. 52
Sin Joun Coare SHERBROOKE arrived at Quebec
on the 12th July, 1816, from Halifax, Nova Scotia,
where his administration had given universal satis-
faction. This officer, from his residence in that
colony, must not have been unacquainted with the
public affairs in Canada, an advantage of which
he judiciously availed himself by adopting a line
of policy suited to the complexion of the times.
Easy of access to all men, frank towards those
who came to him on public business, diligent and
earnest in the accomplishment of those purposes
which he considered as essential to the welfare of
the province, he won the confidence of the people,
from whom, in the course of his administration, he
experienced no opposition, as he adopted no mea-
sures that wore the appearance of mystery, ad-
hered to no party, nor entertained any policy that
was not obviously calculated for the advancement
of the public welfare.
The first act of his administration of any import,
was that of a benevolent mind. Owing to the
failure of the harvest in the lower parts of the
district of Quehec, by early frosts, several of the
parishes were threatened with famine. The go-
vernor, upon his own responsibility, threw open
the king’s stores, and advanced a very considera-
ble sum of money for the purchase of such supplies
juebec
Scotia,
| satis-
n that
ith the
which
a line
times.
; those
nt and
Irposes
fare of
people,
ion, he
oO mea-
ry, ad-
y that
ement
mport,
to the
of the
of the
e go-
open
bidera-
pplies
53 (1816.
as were not in store. Provisions were forwarded
before the commencement of winter to the distress-
ed parishes, which by this seasonable relief, were
reserved from the horrors of impending hunger.
The legislature met earlier in the season than
usual, and the governor called their immediate at-
tention to this subject, recommending such further
measures as the nature of the evil complained of
might require.
Engaged in this and other concerns of moment,
the assembly postponed the consideration of the
impeachments until towards the close of the ses-
sion. A reluctance to enter upon this subject was
indeed visible from the commencement, probably
from a persuasion prevalent among the members,
that the peremptory nature of the governor’s in-
structions were such, as to leave him no discre-
tionary power in case the assembly should resume
the question.
A judge of the court of king’s bench for the dis-
trict of Montreal, was impeached in this session
by Mr. Cuvillier, for divers alleged high crimes and
misdemeanors, committed in his official capacity.
The assembly, after instituting an inquiry into the
grounds upon which the charges preferred against
him were laid, adopted certain resolutions, and
drew up an address to the prince regent, which,
together with the articles of complaint, they re-
Cee
— ” eee
“ ate Pee SEE itp A Se BG se Rs ate pect iOS Rm ari es pee sits A
MS i Be OO RIN Je EOI BE, RTE MO FOIL TE EES BRE ILD BES ae a oe ‘ =
[1816. 54
quested the governor to transmit to his royal
highness. The house also requested the governor
to suspend the accused from his functions while
the charges were pending against him. His exeel-
lency, on receiving the address of the assembly, in-
formed them that he would not fail to transmit
their address, with the articles of complaint, and
the documents accompanying the same, to the
prince regent. He also acquainted them that ha-
ving previously perused the evidence adduced in
the course of the investigation, he had already
communicated to the judge in question, his desire
that he should abstain from the exercise of his ju-
dicial functions, until the determination of the
prince regent, with respect to any further proceed-
ings on the accusations, should be made known.
By this prudent anticipation of the desires of the
house of assembly, the governor gratified that
body, without in the least compromitting the pre-
tensions of the legislative council, who still, as on
a former occasion, denied the right of the assembly
to impeach* without their concurrence.
The proceedings of the assembly being commu-
nicated by message to the legislative council, this
body came to certain resolutions, and framed an
address in like manner to the regent, stating that
* See Appendix, E.
is royal
rovernor
1s while
is exeel-
mbly, in-
transmit
int, and
, to the
that ha-
luced in
already
s desire
f his ju-
1 of the
proceed-
> known.
8 of the
ed that
the pre-
ll, as on
ssembly
commu-
cil, this
med an
ng that
55 [1816.
they had in no wise participated in the charges
preferred against the judge, and remonstrated
against the right of the assembly to impeach, which
they observed would thenceforth, if admitted,
place every public officer at the mercy of the as-
sembly, and thereby disqualify them from a faith-
ful and indeperuent discharge of official duty ;
they therefore besought his royal highness not to
inflict any punishment on the accused until the
articles of complaint should have been submitted
to, and met with their concurrence, or until such
articles of complaint, in the event that their con-
currence should not be deemed necessary, should
be heard and determined by them under such com-
mission as his royai highness should see fit to issue
for that purpose.
These proceedings were communicated by mes-
sage to the house of assembly, where, in reply to
them, it was resolved, “ That the claims of the le-
gislative council touching the complaints brought
by the assembly, were not founded on the constitu-
tional law, or any analogy thereto; that they tended
to prevent offenders out of the reach of the ordi-
nary tribunals of the country from being brought to
justice, and to maintain, perpetuate, and encourage
an arbitrary, illegal, tyrannical, and oppressive
power over the people of the province.”
A petition was presented to the assembly from
BE oy puta oe ciel Se ies ae per oes ee
sees Se er or a ==
+ Pum
onthe.
et ty
Ns Adit ne SIG SRS, SS a enh pte ata
ELD TEP RN See OTR I sa “ows ce ae ae ea.
[1816 56
the orphan children of the late Francois Corbeil,
who had died in consequence of his imprisonment
at Montreal, during the administration of Sir James
Henry Craig, principally complaining against the
chief justice of the district of Montreal, in issuing
a warrant for the imprisonment of their deceased
father, and praying the assembly to adopt such
measures thereupon as might appear proper.
Another petition concer..ing the conduct of the
same gentleman, towards a member of the assem-
bly (Mr. Sherwood) was also presented. Some f
time after the appearance in print of the letters,
and order in council, which we have already had
occasion to mention, relative to the dismissal of
the complaints against the chief justices, a printed /
travesty, turning these into burlesque, was circula-.
7 ted. A groundless suspicion that Sir S. was the
author, obtained some credit, and that gentleman,
who by his sturdy opposition to certain measures
in the legislature, where he recently had obtained
a seat, had become obnoxious to a party, was
singled out for a criminal prosecution for a libel
upon the king’s government. The chief justice of
Montreal had, during the time that the court of
king’s bench for criminal pleas ought to have sat
in that city, absented himself while attending the
IK if i} : legislative council, where the assembly in the pre-
iy ceding session were expected to resume the con-
+ Corbeil,
risonment
Sir James
ainst the
in issuing
deceased
opt such
per.
ict of the
ie assem-
1. Some
e letters,
eady had
nissal of
4 printed
-circula-
was the
ntleman,
neasures
obtained
rty, was
r a libel
ustice of
court of
have sat
ding the
the pre-
the con-
57 (1816.
sideration of the complaints in which he was per-
sonally concerned. As the court of king’s bench
could not legally be held without his presence, the
term was lost. To obviate this inconvenience, a
commission of oyer and terminer for the district of
Montreal was issued after the dissolution of the
parliament. The chief justice presided in that
court where a bill of indictment for a libel upon his
majesty’s government was found against Mr. Sher-
wood. It was with a view of exposing and seeking
redress for the proceedings connected with this
prosecution, that the present petition was laid be-
fore the house. The conduct of the chief justice,
in absenting himself from his official duties, and
thereby causing the laws of the land to be sus-
pended and dispensed with, contrary to the bill of
rights, were complained of. The grand jury, who
had found this bill of indictment, instead of being
summoned from the body of the district, had, as it
was asserted, been packed from the city of Mon-
treal. They were represented as partisans ond
persons inclined to second the measures of the
chief justice, whose conduct in the present in-
stance, while presiding in his court, was placed in
an unfavourable light. The petition was referred
to a special committee of five members, who imme-
diately instituted an inquiry into the subject. The
chief justice, in the lk hearing of this new
= aan RE aig ae SE ae
Se Teg Sree eee stir cee
[1816. 58
complaint against him before the assembly, wrote
a letter concerning it to the governor in chief,
which his excellency transmitted to the speaker,
by whom it was submitted to the house, where it
was received with disregard.* The committee
made some progress in the inquiry, but from the
unusual pressure of business in this session, it was
found impossible to complete it, and leave vvas
therefore given to continue the subject until the
ensuing session.
Soon after the governor’s arrival at Quebec, a
bill, granting a salary to the speaker of the assem-
bly, passed on the 25th March, 1815, received,
after upwards of a year’s delay, the royal sanction.
By this act a salary for the speaker of the existing
assembly only, which expired with that session,
was provided.
On the eleventh of March, the assembly pre-
sented addresses to the governor, requesting that
* For this document see Appendix. This letter was proba-
bly intended as a confidential communication with the governor.
That officer, averse to every thing like underhand dealing,
openly communicated its contents to the assembly, who, from
this circumstance, were convinced of his determination to act
with candour and justice, whatever might be the intrigues of
party; and from thenceforth placed the strongest confidence
in the prudence of his administration, and cheerfully co-ope-
rated with his measures.
, wrote
» chief,
peaker,
here it
nmittee
om the
, it was
ve "vas
itil the
pbec, a
assem-
ceived,
inction.
xisting
session,
ly pre-
g that
8 proba-
bvernor.
dealing,
0, from
to act
gues of
fidence
co-ope-
59
[1816.
his excellency would allow their speaker, during
that parliament, such adequate salary as might be
thougt’ suitable to the dignity of his office, and
that he would also be pleased to confer some sig-
nal mark of the royal favour on the widow of Mr.
Punet, the late speaker, in testimony of his ser-
vices as such, during twenty years and upwards,
without any recompense or remuneration.
To the
former of these addresses the governor made an-
swer, that “ the legislative council having, by their
address of the 4th of March, 1815, stated that
that house was impressed with the expediency of
remunerating their speaker, also by an annual sala-
ry, for the arduous and important duties attached
to his high office, and having prayed that such
measures might be adopted for that purpose as
should seem meet, he should readily comply with
the wishes of the assembly, and make an adequate
and proper remuneration for the services and du-
ties of the speaker of that house from the com-
mencement of that parliament to the end thereof,
upon being enabled to make a similar provision
for the speaker of the legislative council for the
same period.” In answer to the latter, he ac-
quainted them, that in compliance with their re-
quest, and in consideration of the sense he enter-
tained for the long service and great merit of the
late speaker, he had, in his majesty’s behalf, con-
1816.] 60
ferred an annuity on his widow of three hundred
pounds currency during her life.
The assembly could not reasonably withhold
from the speaker of the upper house, the advan-
tages which they intended to confer on their own.
They, therefore, resolved to make good the sums
which the governor might cause to be expended
for the payment of the salary of the speaker of
the legislative council. This resolution being for-
mally communicated to the governor, he sent a
message to the assembly to inform them that, in
consequence of their addresses, he had conferred,
on the speakers of both houses, an annual salary
of one thousand pounds from the commencement
until the conclusion of that parliament.
Fourteen thousand two hundred and sixteen
pounds were granted to make good the advances
which the governor had made for the relief of the
parishes in distress from the failure of the late
harvest. The further sum of fifteen thousand five
hundred pounds were advanced for the same pur-
pose. Twenty thousand pounds were granted for
the purchase of seed wheat, and other grain, and
potatoes, for the more indigent husbandmen, on
their giving security to repay the amount advanced.
Fifty-five thousand f ‘unds were appropriated for
the improvement of the internal communications
of the province, and two thousand two hundred
undred
ithhold
advan-
Ir own.
ie sums
pended
ker of
ing for-
sent a
that, in
ferred,
salary
cement
sixteen
ances
of the
e late
d five
e pur-
ed for
, and
n, on
nced.
bd for
ations
dred
61 [1816.
and fifty pounds were granted for the promotion of
vaccine inoculation. Various annual acts which
had expired, owing to the late dissolution of the
provincial parliament, were now renewed.
After these affairs had been despatched, Mr.
James Stuart again brought forward the considera-
tion of adopting further measures with respect to
the impeachments. He maintained the right of
the commons of Lower Canada to petition the re-
gent on the decision which had been given, and
respectfully to remonstrate upon the wrongs which
the province might ultimately experience in con-
sequence of it. Though his reasoning on the sub-
ject was sound and irresistible, the members, at
once, fatigued with the labours of the session, and
disgusted with the late dissolution, and the hourly
reports that a similar event would ensue, should
any resolution tending to revive the question be
adopted, were desirous of leaving it at rest until
_ the ensuing sessiou,, in the expectation that some
measures would in the meantime be adopted by
the government to appease the public ferment.
The consideration of the subject was, therefore,
postponed by a great majority of votes until the
following session. It was not, however, resumed
as proposed in that session, and there is cause to
suspect that the present course was purposely
adopted as the easiest mode of totally relinquish-
Ae iit
LOLS LE MEHR LOPED FOLGE ENG CEMA RBS TSS ET
: es =e ms =o ae
See
ne ie eee ants ae
1817.] 62
ing the subject. On the twenty-second of March
the provincial parliament was prorogued.
The liberal supplies which the assembly had
laid at the disposal of the governor, enabled him
to direct his attention with effect to the improve-
ment of the colony, and some new roads were
opened through the unsettled parts of Lower Ca-
nada, the most susceptible of immediate establish-
ments.
From the prorogation to the ensuing session no
incident of any moment occurred. The governor,
in opening the session, recommended to the con-
sideration of the legislature, the propriety of hold-
ing out some inducement to a few good farmers
and labourers to settle in the province, for the pur-
pose of introducing, by their example, a more im-
proved system of agriculture. He also informed
the house of assembly, that he had received the
commands of his royal highness the prince regent
to call upon the legislature to vote the sums neces-
sary for the ordinary annual expenditure of the
province; that in pursuance of these directions
from his majesty’s government, he would order to
be laid before them an estimate of the sums which
would be necessary to defray the expense of the
civil government of the province for the year 1818,
and that he anticipated a ready execution of the
effer, which they (the assembly) had made on a
March
ly had
ed him
|prove-
3 were
ver Ca-
ablish-
sion no
vernor,
he con-
of hold-
farmers
he pur-
ore im-
ormed
red the
regent
neces-
of the
pctions
der to
which
of the
1818,
of the
Pp OR a
63 (1817.
former occasion, to defray the expenses of his ma-
jesty’s provincial government, with a liberality
that did them honour.
This information was received by the public
with much gratification, as it gave to the assembly
that weight in the colonial constitution which pro-
perly belonged to it, and the seeking whereof had,
in 1810, created so much heat and animadversion.
The event was, however, as might be expected,
received with far other sensations by those who,
heretofore, had controlled the public concerns of
the province. These, ficm a state of supreme pow-
er, were by the new order of things to descend to
a level with the common class of their fellow sub-
jects, if not into a state something verging upon
dependence.
Before the public accounts and estimates were
sent down to the assembly, the governor was at-
tacked with a paralytic stroke, which deprived
him of the use of his left side. This untoward cir-
cumstance opened a glimmering of hope to those
whose interests were likely to be affected, and who
were therefore averse to the measure which the
British government had recently adopted, in charg-
ing the province with the payment of its own civil |
list. If by any means a prorogation of the session
could have been brought about, before the esti-
mates were submitted to the assembly, and that
i ES TMS ERE TEES ALL SS EIEN I a I RE :
ac
+ Larges earn ee he eee
ee oahenn NE we “o
1818.] 64
body, by making an adequate appropriation for the
purpose, were put in full possession of the civil list,
there would still remain a possibility that the
government at home, upon a strong remonstrance,
would be induced to alter its opinion, and recall the
measure now proposed to the assembly. The
governor’s life was therefore whispered to be in
imminent danger, or at least that his illness was
such, as to render him incapable of attending to
public business, and that a prorogation must neces-
sarily ensue. An inquiry even is said to have
been secretly instituted in a certain quarter for the
purpose of establishing his inability to continue in
the exercise of the government of the province,
and to adopt measures accordingly. These pro-
ceedings were however accidentally discovered,
and a proposed public inquiry into the state of the
governor’s health, in the assembly, and an inquiry
actually commenced on that subject, in the upper
house, put an end to the plot.
After two or three days of adjournments, from a
sense of deference towards the governor, it was
ascertained that his present infirmity had not im-
paired his faculties, and business proceeded as
usual.
The estimates for the civil list were sent to the
assembly at an advanced period of the session, and
amounted to the sum of £73,646 8s. 9d. currency.
for the
vil list,
at the
trance,
call the
The
> be in
68 was
ding to
L neces-
o have
r for the
tinue in
rovince,
se pro-
overed,
e of the
inquiry
upper
from a
it was
not im-
ded as
to the
ON, and
irrency:
65 [1818.
of Lower Canada, for the payment whereof, the
funds already by law provided, amounted, at an
average for the last three years, to the sum of
£33,383, leaving a balance of £40,263 8s. 9d. to
be provided for. After debates on the subject,
during the greater part of seven days, the assem-
bly came to a resolution that the sum required
should be appropriated for the civil list, but owing
to the late period of the session at which the mat-
ter had been discussed, the house postponed the
further consideration of it, until the next meeting
of the legislature, without passing a bill of appropri-
ation for the present.
The legislative council had, at the recommenda-
tion of the governor, been recently augmented in
number, by the addition of several new members.
This body, notwithstanding the dissatisfaction it
had evinced at the pretensions recently asc:xmed
by the lower house, with respect to impeachments,
on learning the determination of the prince regent
concerning the accusation preferred, last session,
against one of the judges at Montreal, suddenly
became eager advocates for the doctrine. His
royal highness had decided that in this, and all
similar cases of impeachment by the assembly, the
adjudication of the charges preferred against the
party accused should be left to the legislative
council. The i aaa of so important a privi-
1818,] 66
lege as that of sitting in judgment on the com-
plaints of the commons of Lower Canada in cases
of impeachment, raised the dignity of the legisla-
tive council in the same ratio, as the right now con-
firmed to the assembly, had confirmed the power
of this body, and balanced these two branches of
the legislature with corresponding weights. Al-
though by the instructions which the governor had
received from home, this principle was settled,
: yet, the manner in which it was to be carried into
effect, had not been explained. He had, there-
fore, been under the necessity of recurring to his
majesty’s government for further instructions in
this respect. The substance of the information
sought for, was to ascertain whether the legislative
council was to take cognizance of impeachments
by the commons, in virtue of a special commis-
sion, to be issued for the occasion, or whether it
were to exefcise that authority as a privilege in-
herent in the upper house from the nature of the
constitution, and by the analégy it bore with the
house of lords in Great Britain. The governor
had not thought it expedient to communicate the
instructions he had received to the two branches
of the legislature, until it should be in his power
to lay before them the full and definitive intention
of the king’s government on the subject. A re-
port of the resolution which his éxcellency had
com-
cases
gisla-
y con-
ower
hes of
Al-
r had
ttled,
d into
there-
to his
yns in
ration
lative
ments
mis-
her it
ve in-
of the
h the
ernor
e the
ches
ower
ntion
re-
had -
67 [1818.
pursued, having gone abroad, such members of
the upper house as entertained lofty notions of
the inherent privileges of that body, showed a
disposition to call in question the propriety of the
governor’s conduct, and that of his advisers, in a
matter which they maintained concerned the prti-
vileges of the legislative council, and, therefore,
only to be settled by itself. Others, cf more mode-
rate pretensions, denied the doctrine of inherent
privileges in the upper house, to decide upon the
complaints of the commons; a right which, they
said, far from being inherent, had, in the present
instance, manifestly emanated: from the crown,
from which it was indispensably requisite that some
instrument should be furnished before they could”
constitutionally and legally proceed on the trial of
the accused. In the lower house an opinion was
prevalent, that to enable the legislative council to
proceed upon the impeachment in question, an act
of the provincial legislature for that purpose was
indispensable. Some warm debates, on a motion
in the upper house for an address to the governor
to request information on what had been done re-
lative to the last impeachment, took place. His
excellency, therefore, to satisfy both branches of
the legislature, sent a message to them, informing
them of the steps he had thought it expedient to
adopt on the subject. This official communica-
1818.) 68
tion, far from satisfying those who had agitated tiie
question in the legislative council, afforded a
ground-work upon which subsequent proceedings
were intended to be raised; but a prudent regard
for the actual state of the governor’s health, in-
duced the movers of the proposed address to re-
linquish the matter for the present.
Among the concerns which occupied the house
of assembly, was an inquiry, instituted by Mr. Cu-
villier, into the administration of justice in the
court of vice admiralty, which was not brought to
a close in this session, owing to the great pressure
of business which required immediate despatch.
The more important acts passed during this ses-
sion were, an act for opening a navigable canal
from Saint John’s to Chambly, on the river Riche-
lieu ; “an act for the encouragement of agriculture;
another to authorize the appointment of commis-
sioners for the improvement of the communication
by water with Upper Canada; and another to
establish watches and night lights in the cities of
Quebec and Montreal. A bill incorporating a
bank in the city of Montreal was passed by the
lower and upper houses, but it was reserved for
the royal consideration.
On the first of April, the public business being
concluded, the legislative council and assembly
went up to the castle of Lewis (the governor be-
iS 8ES-
canal
iche-
ture;
nmis-
ation
pr to
es of
ng a
r the
d for
eing
nbly
be-
69 (1818.
ing still from illness incapable of attending at the
council chamber with the usual solemnities) where
such bills as were ready, received, with the excep-
tion above mentioned, the royal sanction, and his
excellency prorogued the parliament, with ac-
knowledgments for the attention and diligence
with which the public business had been des-
patched.
The governor had requested leave to retire
from the government of the province on account
of his declining state of health, and he was re-
placed by his grace the duke of Richmond, whose
appointment was known at Quebec early in the
summer. This nobleman, accordingly, left Eng-
land for Quebec, where he arrived on the 29th
July, in his majesty’s ship Iphigenia, on board of
which Sir John Coape Sherbrooke embarked for
England on the 12th August, having, on the eve of
his departure, received the most affectionate fare-
well addresses from the citizens of Quebec, Mon-
treal, and Three Rivers, as well as from the mem-
bers of the legislative and executive councils.
In reviewing this administration, few observa-
tions occur to us that are not obvious to the reader
on a perusal of the preceding pages. That he as-
sumed the government of Lower Canada when the
nicest management was necessary to heal the divi-
sions which recent events were on the point of
1818] 70
producing, will be as readily admitted as that the
prudence of his measures appeased the ferment
which then began to agitate the public mind.
Prompted by the most liberal principles, and supe-
rior to the local prejudices which too frequently
predominate in colonial politics, he gave a free
scope to the growing energies of the constitution
of the province, and imparted to it that character |
which the British government must, by conferring
it, have intended the province to enjoy. Those
pretensions, which a few years before had em-
broiled the executive with the assembly, were now
gratuitously yielded to the latter, and the constitu-
tion of the colony made more progress in the ac-
quisition of solid advantages during this admini-
stration, than it had previously gained since its
establishment. The accession of talents and libe-
ral sentiment acquired by the legislative council «= |
from his appointments to that body, amply com-
pensated for the casual deficiencies of wealth and
local influence, those essential ingredients, pecu-
liarly to be expected in this second branch of the
constitution, and without which it cannot long
maintain its weight in the direction of public af-
fairs. Such was the wisdom with which he ruled
the province, and the confidence which the peo-
ple reposed in his probity, that with the disposi-
tion to turn to their disadvantage, that authority
at the
rment
mind.
supe-
uently
2 free
tution
racter .
erring
Those
d em-
"e NOW
nstitu-
he ac-
dmini-
ce its
1 libe-
ouncil - |
com-
h and
pecu-
pf the
long
lic af-
ruled
peo-
Bposi-
hority
71 [1818.
which, incontestably, he exercised for their benefit,
he would have been a more powerful and absolute
ruler in the cabinet than he who boldly resorts to
violence in support of his measures. That trifling
errors may have been occasionally committed is
but natural to suppose; but we know of none
which upon the slightest remonstrance he would
not readily have repaired, and which are not com-
pensated by a multitude of virtuous actions. In
fine the administration of Sir John Coape Sher-
brooke, in the British North American colonies,
will be considered as that of an upright and disin-
terested Englishman, whose name, while merit
continues to be respected, will be remembered
with esteem.
ar on ata One
esi rT aman dae ah
SO a ERE are PE
APPENDIX.
(A,)
Lecistative Councit,
Wednesday, 2d March, 1814.
Resolved, That by the criminal Law of England
and of this province, no man can be charged with,
or impeached of any crime or criminal offence,
but by an inquest of the country, the cases except-
ed in which an information on the part of the
crown may be filed.
Resolved, That the lawful inquest of every
county, district or government, by whose ministry
any subject of his majesty is charged with, or im-
peached of any crime or criminal offence, how-
ever chosen or appointed, represents, for the pur-
pose of such charge or impeachment, the entire
community of the people of the county, district or
government, in which such subject is so charged
or impeached, and acts on their behalf, and in
their right.
Resolved, That the right to charge or impeach
any officer or officers of his majesty’s government
in this province, with or for any crime or criminal
10
74
offence or misdemeanor in office, (if any such
right exists in this province,) is by law vested in
the entire community of the people of this pro-
vince.
Resolved, That the right to charge or impeach an
officer or officers of his majesty’s government in
this province, with or for any crime or criminal
off9ce, or misdemeanor in office, doth not vest,
ior can be vested in any one part of the people of
this proviiuve, more than in another, but is vested
in the whore collectively, generally and equally.
Resolved, That since the right to impeach any
officer or officers of his majesty’s government in
this province, with or for any crime, criminal of-
fence or misdemeanor in office, doth not vest in
any one part of the people of this province more
than in another, but is vested in the whole collec-
tively, generally and equally; the right to charge
any officer or officers with or for any crime, crimi-
nal offence or misdemeanor in office, doth not, nor
can exclusively exist in the representatives of any
one part of the people of this province, nor can
by them be exercised without the participation of
the remainder.
Resolved, That the members of this house are a
component part of the people of this province.
Resolved, That the members of this house being
appointed by the crown for life, do sit and vote in
75
the provincial parliament in their own right, and
are not represented in the assembly.
Resolved, That the assembly of this province,
inasmuch as the members of this house are a com.
ponent part of the people of this province, and are
not therein represented, are the representatives of
a part only of the people of this province.
Resolved, That every charge or impeachment of
the assembly alone, is a charge or impeachment of
a part only of the people of this province.
Resolved, That every charge or : 1speachment by
the assembly alone, being « cha:;e ur impeach-
ment by a part only of the pxvok:: of this province,
no charge or impeachment cf any officer or officers
of his majesty’s government 1 this province, with
er for any crime, criminal offence or misdemeanor
in office, can by the laws and constitution of this
province be exhibited by the assembly alone, nor
without the participation of this house.
Resolved, That the imperial parliament of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, is
the true and perfect representative of the entire
community of the people of the said United King-
dom.
Resolved, That the right to charge or impeach
any officers of his majesty’s government, with or
for any crime, criminal offence, or misdemeanor in
76
office, is by the law and constitution of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, vested in
the entire community of the people of the said
United Kingdom, but is exercised on their be-
half, and in their right by the house of commons
alone, to the exclusion of the house of lords.
Resoled, That the right of hearing and deter-
mining all impeachments exhibited in the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by the peo-
ple of the said United Kingdom, by the ministry
of the house of commons, is by the law and con-
stitution of the said United Kingdom vested in the
house of lords, to the exclusion of the house of
commons and of every other tribunal.
Resolved, That the exclusive right of hearing and
determining all impeachments exhibited in the Uni-
ted Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by the
people of the said United Kingdom, by the ministry
of the house of commons, being vested in the house
of lords, the house of lords is thereby, and thereby
only, excluded from all participation in voting or
exhibiting any such impeachments. The offices of
accuser and judge being totally incompatible.
Resolved, That the right of hearing and deter-
mining impeachments exhibited in this province
by the people of this province, is not vested in the
legi..ative council of this province, and that the
77
legislative council is not, therefore, excluded from
a participation in voting or exhibiting any such
impeachment.
Resolved, That the impeachr.ent of the honour-
able Jonathan Sewell, his majesty’s chief justice
of this province, by the assembly alone, is an ille-
gal and alarming assumption of power on the part
of the assembly.
Resolved, That the impeachment of the honoura-
ble James Monk, chief justice of his majesty’s court
of king’s bench, ‘for the district of Montreal, by
the assembly alone, is an illegal and alarming as+
sumption of power on the part of the assembly.
Resolved, That the said impeachments of the
honourable Jonathan Sewell, and of the honour-
able James Monk, by the assembly alone, tend, in
their immediate consequences, to deprive this
house of its lawful rights and privileges; to give to
the assembly an ascendency and control over this
house, which is entirely incompatible with the due
exercise of its legislative powers; and to render
the judges of this province, and all other officers
of the crown, in this province, dependant on the as-
sembly, and thereby endanger, not only the right
administration of justice in this province, but the
right administration of his majesty’s provincial go-
vernment in general.
Resolved, That this house doth solemnly protest
78
against the said impeachments of the honourable
Jonathan Sewell, and the honourable James
Monk, by the assembly alone, and against all pro-
ceedings whatever, which have been and shall be
had on the said impeachments, or on either of
them.
(B.)
The ordex of his royal highness the prince re-
gent in council, upon the complaints of the house
of assembly of Lower Canada, against the chief
justice of the province, the chief justice of the
court of king’s bench for the district of Montreal,
the executive council (judges in the court of ap-
peal) and the puisne justices of the courts of king’s
bench for the district of Quebec, and Montreal, in
the same province, respecting the rules of prac-
tice established in those courts, with other docu-
ments respecting the decision of his royal highness
upon the remainder of the complaints by the said
assembly.
No. 1.
(For this, see the order in council under the let-
ler CG, in this appendix.
79
rable No. 2.
ames
pro- Downing-Street, July 23, 1815.
ll be Sir,
or of His royal highness the prince regent, having
been pleased to refer to the consideration of a
committee of the most honourable privy council,
certain articles of complaint against you and Mr.
Monk, so far as related to the rules of practice es-
e re- tablished by you in the courts in which you respec-
10use tively preside, it now becomes my duty to ccmmuni-
chief cate to you the result of that inquiry, which naving
f the received the entire approbation of his royal high-
treal, ness, is expressed in the order of which the en-
f ap- closed is a copy. (No. 1.)
The officer at present administering the govern-
ment of Canada, has received his royal highness’s
king’s
al, in
a eT nen ES See ONT I caaaedoen aint ee ae: TE Min rene =
ae Fc RA as ee IRIE Spr en pan ee Ss = = =
prac- commands to communicate this decision to the
Hocu- house of assembly ; and in making this communi- |
ness cation, to state the grounds upon which his royal
said highness has declined considering, as articles of | 7
complaint against you, the advice which you are at
different times stated to have given to the prece- f
ding governors of the province. It is highly satis- i
factory to me to assure you, that although his royal if
p let- } highness felt compelled upon general principles i
to exclude those particular charges from conside- it
ration, and thus to preclude you from entering i
upon your justification, yet his royal highness en- |
80
tertains nu doubt as to the general propriety of
your and Mr. Monk’s conduct, or as to your being
able to offer, with respect to them, a full and satis-
factory explanation.
Jam, Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,
(Signed) BATHURST. ;
To J. Sewell, Esq.
Chief Justice of Lower Canada.
No. 3.
Downing-Street, July 27th, 1815.
Sik,
I have had the honour of receiving your letter
of the 24th instant, expressing your apprehension,
that as the instructions transmitted to the officer
administering the government of Canada, do not em-
brace any other charges brought against you and
Mr. Monk, than those which relate to advice given =’
by you to the governor, and the rules of practice es-
tablished in your respective courts, the house of
assembly may be induced to consider you as not
free from blame on the other points of charge, not
strictly falling within that description.
As the letter addressed to the officer adminis-
tering the government of Canada, bears testimony
to the uniform propriety of your’s and Mr. Monk’s
315.
letter
nsion,
officer
ot em-
and
given
ce es-
ise of
as not
re, not
minis-
imony
onk’s
81
conduct, I do not conceive that there can be any
ground for the house of assembly to doubt that your
justification is complete: but, I am glad to have
an opportunity of stating that the charges not spe-
cifically adverted to in my letter, appeared to be,
with one exception, of too little importance to re-
quire consideration, and that (the. one against Mr.
Monk, which charges him with having refused a
writ of habeas corpus) was, as well as all the other
charges, which are not founded on the rules of
practice, totally unsupported by any evidence
whatever.
i have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) BATHURST.
J. Sewell, Esq.
Chief Justice of Lower Canada.
No. 4.
Council Office, Whitehall, August 17th, 1815.
Sir,
Agreeably to the request, signified in your let-
ter of the 30th ultimo, I have the honour to enclose
you a copy of the order in council, dismissing the
complaints of the house of assembly of Lower Cana
da, so far as they relate to the rules of practice, &c.
with the names of the lords present in council,
11
Woy’,
$2
when the report of the lords of the committee re-
specting those complaints was approved.
Thereport of the lords of the committee isentered
at length in the copy of the order; but it is not the
practice to insert the names of the lords who make
the report; yet, as it is important that it should be
known in Canada, by what high legal authority the
said report was made, I have it in command from
the lord president to communicate their names to
you, and they are as follows:
Tue Lorp Preswwent,
Eart Batuurst,
Lorp ELLensporovan,
Sie Wituiam Scort,
Master oF THE Rotts,
Sir Jonn Nicuott,
Lorp Cuter Justice Gipss,
Lorp Crier Baron.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) CHETURJUD.
J. Sewell, Esq. |
Chief Justice of Lower Canada.
the
1ake
d be
y the
from
s to
(C.)
(Signed) Gorpon Drummonp,
Administrator in Chief.
The administrator-in-chief has received the
commands of his royal highness the prince regent,
to make known to the house of assembly of this
province, his pleasure on the subject of certain
justice of the province, and the chief justice of the
court of king’s bench for the district of Montreal.
With respect to such of those charges as relate
to acts done bya former governor of the province,
which the assembly assuming to be improper or
illegal, imputed by a similar assumption to advice
given by the chief justice to that governor, his
royal highness has deemed that no inquiry could
be necessary; inasmuch as none could be insti-
tuted without the admission of the principle,
that the governor of a province might, at his
own discretion, divest himself of all responsibility
on points of political government.
With a view, therefore, to the general interests
of the province, his royal highness was pleased to
refer for consideration to the lords of the privy
council, such only of the charges brought by the
assembly as related to the rules of practice estab-
charges preferred by that house against the chief
$4
lished by the judges in their respective courts,
those being points upon which if any impropriety
had existed, the judges the:nselves were solely re-
sponsible.
By the annexed copy of his royal highness’s
order in council, dated the 29th June, 1815, the
administrator-in-chief conveys to the assembly the
result of this investigation, which has been con-
ducted with all that attention and solemnity which
the importance of the subject required.
In making this communication to tue assembly,
it now becomes the duty of the administrator-in-
chief, in obedience to the commands of his royal
highness the prince regent, to expr:ss the regret
with which his royal highness has viewed their late
proceedings against two persons who have so long
anu so ably filled the highest judicial offices in the
colony, a circumstance the m:ure to ve deplored as
tending to disparage, in the eyes of the inconside-
rate and ignorsii, their character and services, and
thus to diminish tue influence to which, from their
situation and their uniform propriety of conduct,
they are justly entitled.
The above communication embracing such only
of the charges preferred against the said chief
justices as relate to the rules of practice, and as
are grounded on advice assumed to have been
given by the chief justice of the province to the
85
late Sir James Craig, the administrator-in-chief has
been further commanded to signify to the assembly,
that the other charges appeared to his majesty’s
government to be, with one exception, too incon-
siderable to require investigation, and that that,
(namely the one against the chief justice of the
court of king’s bench, for the district of Montreal,
which states him to have refused a writ of habeas
corpus, ) was, in common with all the charges which
do not relate to the rules of practice, totally un-
supported by any evidence whatever.
(Signed ) G. D.
At the Court of Carlton-House, the
29th June, Bis.
: PRESENT!
His Royal Highness the Prince Recent in Council.
Whereas there was this day read at the bord.
a report from a committee of the lords of his
majesty’s most honourable privy council, dated the
24th of this instant, in the wor s following, viz:
“Your royal highness |.aviag been pleased by
your order in council of the 10th December last,
in the name and on the beha! of his majesty, to refer
unto this committee a letter irom Earl Bathurst, one
of his majesty’s principal secretaries of state, to the
lord president of the council, transmitting a copy
ner Serer yn ie 8 LET A POR MINE ages i ee INT ore oe
86
of a letter from Sir George Prevost, dated Quebec,
the 18th of March, 1814, forwarding an address of
the house of assembly of Lower Canada, to your
royal highness, with certain articles of complaint
therein referred to, against Jonathan Sewell, Esq.
his majesty’s chief justice of the province of Lower
Canada, and James Monk, Esq. chief justice of the
court of king’s bench for the district of Montreal,
and also transmitting a memorial from the execu-
live council, judges in the court of appeals, and of
the puisne judges of the court «f king’s bench for
the district of Quebec, and of the court of king’s
bench for the district of Montreal, in the said pro-
vince of Lower Canada, praying to be included in
the examination and decision of the said articles
of complaint, together with a petition from the
said Jonathan Sewell, Esq.; in which letter the
said Earl Bathurst requests that so much of the
said complaints of the house of assembly, as relate
to the rules of practice, stated to have been intro-
duced by the said chief justices into their re-
spective courts, may be submitted to your royal
highness in council, in order that, if such rules shall
be found to have been introduced, it may be de-
cided whether in so doing, the said chief justices
have exceeded their authority.
The lords of the committee in obedience to your
royal highness’s said order of reference, have
bec,
ss of
your
laint
Esq.
bwer
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eal,
ecu-
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ing’s
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icles
the
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itro-
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hall
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ices
four
87
taken the said letter and its enclosures into con-
sideration, and having received the opinion of his
majesty’s attorney and solicitor-general, and been
attended by them thereon, and having maturely
deliberated upon the complaints of the said house
of assembly, so far as they relate to the said rules
of practice, their lordships do agree humbly to re-
port as their opinion to your royal highness, that
the rules which are made the subject of such com-
plaint of the said house of assembly of Lower
Canada, against the said chief justices Jonathan
Sewell, Esq. and James Monk, Esq. which their
lordships observe were not made by the said chief
justices, respectively upon their own sole authority,
but by them in conjunction with the other judges
of the respective courts, are all rules for the regu-
lations of the practice of their respective courts,
and within the scope of that power and jurisdic-
tion with which, by the rules of law, and by the
colonial ordinances and acts of legislation these
courts are invested, and consequently that neither
the said chief justices nor the courts in which they
preside have, in making such rules, exceeded their
authority, nor have been guilty of any assumption
of legislative power.”
His royal highness the prince regent having
taken the said report into consideration, was
pleased in the name and on the behalf of his ma-
88
jesty, and by and with the advice of his majesty’s
privy council, to approve thereof, and to order, as
it is hereby ordered, that the said complaints, so
far as they relate to the said rules of practice, be
and they are hereby dismissed this board.
(Signed) JAS. BULLER.
(Signed) G. D.
Resolved, As the opinion of this committee, that
the resistance and opposition of the legislative
council of which the said Jonathan Sewell and
James Monk, were, and are members, to the rights
of the commons of Lower Canada, to exhibit the
said charges, and the obstructions subsequently
interposed to the prosecution of them, prevented
this house from being represented by an agent to
maintain and support the said charges.
Resolved, As the opinion of this committee, that
this house has always been, and is desirous of an
opportunity of being heard on the said charges,
and of supporting them by evidence, and hath
reason to lament that no such opportunity hath
hitherto been offered to them.
Resolved, As the opinion of this committee, that
an humble representation and petition, on the be-
half of the commons of this province, to his royal
highness the prince regent, be prepared, appeal-
ing to the justice of his majesty’s government, and
89
praying that an opportunity may be afforded to his
majesty’s dutiful commons of this province, to be
heard upon and maintain the said charges.
(E.)
Legislative Council, Saturday, 1st March, 1817.
Resolved, That an humble address be presented
to his royal highness the prince regent, humbly
beseeching his royal highness not to inflict any
punishment upon the honourable Louis Charles
Foucher, Esq. one of the puisne justices of the
court of king’s bench for the district of Montreal,
in consequence of the articles of complaint ex-
hibited against him by the assembly of this pro-
vince, until such articles of complaint shall have
been submitted to the consideration of this house,
and this house shall have concurred therein, and
such articles of complaint after such submission
and concurrence shall have been heard and de-
termined in such tribunal as his royal aighness
shall be pleased to appoint for that purpose; or,
until such articles of complaint, without such sub-
mission and concurrence, shall have been heard
and determined in due course of justice in this
house, under such commission as his royal high-
ness shall see fit to issue for that purpose, with
12
90
such powers and limitations as to his royal highness
shall seem meet.
(F.)
Castle of St. Louis, Quebec, 19th February, 1817.
Sir,
The chief justice of the court of king’s
bench, for the district of Montreal, having address-
ed to me a letter explanatory of the cause of his
absence from Montreal, in March, one thousand
eight hundred and sixteen, at the period when the
court is by law appointed to sit ther= for the trial
of criminal causes, for which absence, a charge
has been brought against him in the house of as-
sembly, I think it proper to transmit you a copy
of this communication, and of the enclosure which
accompanied it, in order that in any further pro-
ceedings of the assembly on this subject, they may
be informed of the circumstances represented by
the chief justice.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient
Humble servant,
(Signed) J. C. SHERBROOKE,
Governor in Chief.
T. L. Papineau, Esq. Speaker
of the House of Assembly.
ess
91
(COPY.)
Montreal, February 14th, 1817.
Sir,
As I find that the house of assembly is pro-
ceeding under a committee, upon a petition pre-
sented to that house, by Samuel Sherwood, one of
the members thereof, made eariy in the session of
the present legislature, wherein he has stated,
“that I had absented myself from sitting in and
holding a court of king’s bench for the district of
Montreal, on the first ten days of the month of
March last past, whereby the said court was not
held, and the law of the land was dispensed with
contrary to the bill of rights,” and as this assertion
may improvidently be brought forth as a charge
against my official character and duties;. in a case
where the prerogative of the crown has been le-
gally exercised, and when the conduct of its officers
is not culpable, I am impressed with the duty of
presenting to your excellency my conduct, and the
exercise of the prerogative in respect to my duties
upon holding the said court in the month of March
last. Your excellency will perceive by the en-
closed letter, the express injunctions of his exce)-
lency the administrator-in-chief, and may be a bet-
ter judge than I can presume, of the reasons that
occasioned his exercise of the rights of the sove-
reign in respect to my duties; and your excellency
will justly appreciate how far the assembly should
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be permitted to proceed in a formal charge, which
I submit could not take place, were that house
officially apprized of the circumstances attending
the conduct that had superinduced a supposed
culpability in a servant of the crown.
I have the honour to be, —
&e. dc.
(Signed) J. MONK.
His Excellency Sir John Coape
Sherbrooke, K.C. B. &c. &c. &c.
(COPY.)
Castle of Saint Lewis,
Quebec, 15th February, 1816.
Sir,
With reference to the representation you
have made to his excellency the administrator-in-
chief, of your intention of proceeding shortly to
Montreal, to attend there the approaching session
of the king’s bench, for the trial of criminal causes,
I am communded by his excellency to acquaiat
you, that he conceives your presence here indis-
pensably necessary, to preside as speaker in the
legislative council.
1 have the honour to be,
&c. &c. &e.
(Signed) ROBERT R. LORING,
Secretary.
The Hon. Chief Justice Monk.
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